Uganda To Replace Chloroquine With Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapy as First Line Treatment for Malaria

Uganda later this year will begin importing the malaria drug Coartem, an artemisinin-based combination therapy manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Novartis, to replace chloroquine as the country's first line of treatment against the disease, Xinhua News Agency reports. According to Dr. John Bosco Rwakimari, manager of the Malaria Control Program in Uganda's Ministry of Health, malaria strains in the country are becoming increasingly resistant to chloroquine, with an average resistance of more than 30%. The World Health Organization currently recommends discontinuing the use of a drug when the proportion of cases that are resistant goes above 20%, according to Xinhua News Agency (Xinhua News Agency, 3/23). Rwakimari added that Uganda will use part of a grant from the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to import the drug from a Novartis branch in Nairobi, Kenya, at a cost of $26 million annually. However, the first drug shipment, which is scheduled for August, will cost about $33 million and will include approximately 16 million doses to be distributed to health centers nationwide (Nanyonjo, New Vision, 3/23).