*EPF306 12/03/2003
Drug Resistance, Lack of Chemical Agents Allow Malaria to Spread in Africa
(Panelists debate next steps to reverse trend) (490)

By Colleen Flanagan
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- While AIDS attracts the world's attention as a formidable killer of increasing numbers of people around the globe, the second most prevalent disease in developing countries -- malaria -- continues to take a silent toll.

To bring more light to the subject, the American Enterprise Institute sponsored a panel December 2 in Washington entitled "Tackling Malaria: The Role of DDT and New Drugs," which spotlighted the goal of a program called "Roll Back Malaria" that partners government, the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private donors and research groups in an effort to cut cases of the disease in half by 2010.

Panel member Mary Ettling, malaria team leader for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said, "USAID is a committed partner to 'Roll Back Malaria' and to developing a consensus to work together to fight this disease." New drugs and new therapies are needed to treat the disease, Ettling stated.

Amir Attaran of the Royal Institute of International Affairs echoed Ettling, but also called for more adequate funding and a resumption of the widespread use of DDT (a pesticide used to kill mosquitoes that carry malaria).

Attaran and AEI visiting fellow Roger Bate agreed that the reintroduction of widespread DDT use to combat malaria-infected mosquitoes is key to cutting the rate of infection. They noted that although a measure to ban the use of DDT, citing links to cancer and birth defects, at the Stockholm Persistent Organic Pollutants conference in 1994 did not pass, use of the pesticide declined in subsequent years.

"This whole movement was based on the fears of Western countries who didn't need the chemical anymore," explained Bate.

Malaria has become resistant to drugs commonly used to treat it, Ettling noted, for a number of reasons, including the constant mutation of the disease, poor drug quality and lack of information on proper drug usage, and the migration and displacement of people who have the disease.

USAID, she said, is funding projects to discover and dispense new drugs such as Arteminisin-based combination therapies (ACT), which have proven to be more effective against malaria than the traditional preventative drugs chloroquine and mefloquine. Ettling also said that USAID supports the development of new policies and strategies for use of these new therapies, as well as the improvement of both public and private health systems.

Attaran cited the 98 percent success rate of ACT treatments in Zambia to support Ettling's contention of their effectiveness in treating malaria, but said that more needs to be done to ensure that the people stricken with the disease are able to get the most effective treatments available.

"The rich countries that should be funding this are not," Attaran lamented. "UNICEF and USAID spend more money buying drugs that don't work than on drugs that do."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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