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Some species in Thailand and Vietnam spread a drug-resistant malaria strain |
A third of
malaria drugs used around the world to stem the spread of the disease are
counterfeit, data suggests.
Researchers
who looked at 1,500 samples of seven malaria drugs from seven countries in
South East Asia say poor-quality and fake tablets are causing drug resistance
and treatment failure.
Data from
21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa including over 2,500 drug samples showed
similar results.
Experts say
The Lancet Infectious Diseases research is a "wake-up call".
The US
researchers from the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of
Health who carried out the work believe the problem may even be much greater
than data suggests.
"Most
cases are probably unreported, reported to the wrong agencies, or kept
confidential by pharmaceutical companies," say the researchers.
No large
studies of drug quality have been carried out in China or India - countries
that house a third of the world's population and are a "probable"
source of many counterfeit drugs as well as genuine antimalarial medicines,
they say.
Lead
researcher Gaurvika Nayyar stressed that 3.3 billion people were at risk of
malaria, which is classified as endemic in 106 countries.
"Between
655,000 and 1.2 million people die every year from Plasmodium falciparum
infection," he said.
"Much
of this morbidity and mortality could be avoided if drugs available to patients
were efficacious, high quality, and used correctly."
In parts of
the world where malaria is prevalent, antimalarial drugs are widely distributed
and self-prescribed, both correctly and incorrectly, say the researchers.
The study
found there are insufficient facilities to monitor the quality of antimalarial
drugs and poor consumer and health-worker knowledge about the therapies.
And there
is a lack of regulatory oversight of manufacturing and little punitive action
for counterfeiters.
Despite
this, malaria mortality rates have fallen by more than 25% globally since 2000,
and by 33% in the WHO African Region.
But the
World Health Organization says maintaining current rates of progress will not
be enough to meet global targets for malaria control.
It is
calling for renewed investment in diagnostic testing, treatment, and
surveillance for malaria.
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