KENYA BEGINS DISTRIBUTING NEW MALARIA TREATMENT

Kenya's health ministry has begun distributing a more effective malaria treatment, artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), to public health centers in areas prone to epidemics. The drug, Coartem (artemether lumefantrine), is made by Novartis.

The ACT launch is being funded by a $34 million five-year grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. About 10.5 million malaria patients will benefit from the new treatment each year.

Some health professionals have criticized the change from sulphur-based drugs to ACT on the grounds of cost. ACT is said to be 10 to 15 times more expensive than other anti-malarials.