RBM Announces Plan To Launch Global Subsidy of Antimalarial Drugs

The Roll Back Malaria Partnership hopes in early 2008 to launch a global subsidy worth $250 million to $300 million aimed at reducing the price of artemisinin-based combination therapies to treat malaria, the partnership announced on Thursday at a summit of African Union health ministers, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports. The plan would aim to increase by 300% access to ACTs by people in Africa (AP/International Herald Tribune, 4/12). ACTs currently are 20 times costlier than less effective antimalarial drugs, such as chloroquine, in private pharmacies, which are the only place that most people in Africa can buy medicines. According to Bradford Herbert, a consultant on the subsidy plan, the private sector provides the only access to ACTs for more than 50% of people in Africa, but only 5% of people are able to afford them (Xinhua/People's Daily, 4/13). The subsidy would decrease the price of ACTs from $8 per dose to 10 cents, RBM said. In addition, there would be a cap on the retail price of ACTs, Herbert said. The private and public sectors, as well as donors, would support the subsidy, according to RBM. Several donors and funding organizations already have given initial support for the subsidy, RBM Executive Secretary Awa Marie Coll-Seck said. Herbert said that 90 million doses of the treatment currently are being used and that the plan aims to increase this amount to 300 million two years after its launch (AP/International Herald Tribune, 4/12). The plan currently is being drafted to be presented to potential donor countries, such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. A first draft already has been submitted (AFP/France24, 4/12). The World Bank in January 2006 announced that it was developing proposals with RBM to create a global subsidy for malaria drugs. World Bank officials said that through a subsidy of at least $100 million annually from international donors, progress can be made toward stimulating competition among pharmaceutical companies and reducing the price of ACTs to a level similar to older drugs, such as chloroquine. According to a study published in the March/April 2006 issue of Health Affairs, the international community needs to commit about $300 million for a global subsidy. The study said the subsidy would help develop new malaria treatments, which could save up to 25,000 lives monthly and curb the development of drug resistance (GlobalHealthReporting.org, 4/10).

UNICEF Spokesperson Calls for Malaria Drugs To Be Made More Affordable
Also at the A.U. summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, local musician Yvonne Chaka Chaka -- who serves as a UNICEF regional spokesperson on malaria for eastern and Southern Africa -- called for antimalarial drugs to be made more affordable and for governments to increase the support of efforts to control the disease, the SAPA/Mail and Guardian reports. "There's no need for donors to give (money) if governments don't come to the party," Chaka Chaka said. In addition, Tanzanian Health Minister David Mwakyusa called for more focus to be placed on preventing malaria, rather than controlling it. People continue to die from the disease because appropriate systems have not been established and not enough focus has been placed on educating people about malaria prevention, Mwakyusa said (Hartleb, SAPA/Mail and Guardian, 4/12).