Kenya set to get cheap anti-malaria medicine

Kenya is among seven African countries set to gain from a new plan that will provide cheap malaria medicine.

The Global Fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria on Wednesday launched the drive that will allow people in Africa to buy malaria medicines for less than Sh84 ($1) a course.

Called Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria (AMFm), the initiative aims to make anti-malaria drugs, called artemisinin-based combination therapies, available as widely and cheaply as possible.

“The AMFm is a game-changer in financing access to malaria treatments,” said the head of the initiative at the Global Fund in Geneva, Dr Olusoji Adeyi.

A UN report says the first phase of AMFm covers seven African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania (including Zanzibar) and Uganda – and Cambodia.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon called on countries to intensify efforts to combat malaria, stressing that despite remarkable progress in recent years, much more needs to be done to end the “monumental tragedy” of one child dying every minute from the disease.

In a message to mark World Malaria Day, Mr Ban highlighted the role international partnerships between governments, international agencies, donors, corporations and civil society, among other actors, have played in saving millions of lives.

“More children are sleeping safely under nets, more families are gathering in rooms protected from mosquitoes, more communities have access to testing, and more patients get the medicines they need to recover,” Mr Ban said.

Malaria, caused by a parasite transmitted to humans through mosquitoes, infects 216 million people and kills nearly 650,000 people around the world every year, with most deaths occurring in Africa.

Mr Ban called on countries to close the $3.2 billion funding gap to achieve universal coverage in Africa up to 2015.

A rapid diagnostic test costs 50 cents while a course of an anti-malaria drug costs about $1. A bed net that lasts three years costs $5.

Observing World Malaria Day in Namibia, World Health Organisation director-general Margaret Chan said to accelerate progress, countries needed to focus on improving investments in diagnostic testing, treatment and surveillance for malaria.

“Until countries are able to test, treat, and report every malaria case, we will never defeat this disease,” said Ms Chan.