Uganda Imports Initial Shipment of Coartem To Replace Older Drugs as First-Line Malaria Treatment

Uganda on Monday received more than 22,680,000 doses of Novartis' artemisinin-based combination therapy Coartem, which will replace chloroquine and fansidar as the country's first-line malaria treatment, the New Vision reports. Samples from the shipment were taken to National Drug Authority laboratories for analysis, a process that likely will take between five and seven days, according to Entebbe Airport drug inspector Alfred Akali. The Coartem doses will be distributed at no cost to all government and not-for-profit health centers by March. In addition, health care workers will be trained on how to prescribe the drug, according to John Bosco Rwakimari, program manager of Uganda's National Malaria Control Program (Ouma, New Vision, 2/3).