Gotta hand to that AmeriKan media! Nothing gets by them!
"Officials debate whether to scrap malaria program" by Maria Cheng |
Associated Press, October 31, 2012
LONDON — The future of a pricey malaria program meant to provide
cheap drugs for poor patients may be in jeopardy after health officials
clashed over its effectiveness in two new reports.
In 2010, the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria was started by
groups, including United Nations agencies and the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. It was a pilot project to subsidize
artemesinin combination drugs, the most effective malaria treatment.
The initiative cost more than $460 million, mostly funded by the
Global Fund, UNITAID, and the Canadian and British governments. It was
tested in eight countries: Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger,
Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. Most of the drugs bought were sold in the
private sector, where there are few controls on who gets them.
Last week, a report by Oxfam,
an international charity, labeled the program a failure and said there
was no proof it had saved lives because officials didn’t track who
received the drugs.
‘‘It’s time for this to be scrapped,’’ said Mohga Kamal-Yanni, the
paper’s author. ‘‘If you subsidize drugs and make them cheap, then
clearly the supply will increase. But we have no idea whether the drugs
are getting to the right people.’’
According to the World Health Organization, ‘‘improving the rational
use of [malaria drugs] was not a specific strategic objective’’ of the
program....
But in another paper published Wednesday in the journal Lancet,
specialists insisted the program was an effective mechanism to lower the
price of preferred malaria drugs and make them widely available.
That study didn’t include Cambodia and found that everywhere except
for Niger and Madagascar, there was a bigger supply of the medicines.
Researchers did not measure whether that lowered the number of malaria
cases. The study was paid for by the Global Fund and the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Global Fund called the program ‘‘a practical approach to fighting
disease’’ and said the malaria drugs were not previously available in
many African communities. ‘‘The reality of this program is that it is
getting life-saving medicine to people who need it most from the private
sector outlets where they already seek treatment,’’ the fund said in a
statement.
Next month, Global Fund officials and others will discuss the program’s fate at a previously scheduled meeting.
--more--"
Related:
"An experimental malaria vaccine once thought promising is turning out to be a disappointment."
It is the Constant Gardner!
Also see: Drop-off seen in fight against malaria
Malaria Can Make You Money
Who knows what they have been spraying on us around here over the same irrational fear when so many other things threaten your health more.
