Kenya Takes Action To Remove Illegal, Unapproved Malaria Drugs, Official Says
Kenya has sent inspectors to local and regional regulators to remove any illegal or unapproved malaria drugs and ensure that the remaining medications are "labeled and used in accordance" with guidelines issued by the country's Pharmacy and Poisons Board, Francis Kimani, director of Medical Services, said recently, Business Daily Africa reports.
According to Kimani, health authorities no longer will register or approve artemisinin monotherapies to treat malaria. In addition, drug importers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers have received instructions to dispense monotherapies only to pregnant women for rectal or parenteral administration, Kimani said. He added that sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine combinations would be registered only for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy and not for standard malaria treatment. The Ministry of Health also announced that it has banned the use of amodiaquine for malaria treatment, except when used in combination with an artemisinin derivative. Kimani said authorities recommended combination therapies because monotherapies could "create room for drug resistance" (Wambugu, Business Daily Africa, 1/9). The World Health Organization in January 2006 asked drug companies to stop marketing monotherapies because of concerns about rising drug resistance (GlobalHealthReporting.org, 1/20/06).
Kenya's actions follow a recent report indicating that more than half of the 113 brands of malaria drugs sold in Kenya are not registered or are of poor quality, and most are not recommended by the government (GlobalHealthReporting.org, 1/6). The Poisons board earlier issued a deadline of Sept. 30, 2008, for phasing out all banned malaria drugs in the country. The board has since developed a training curriculum for health workers and plans to distribute the malaria treatment guidelines, Business Daily Africa reports (Business Daily Africa, 1/9).
