African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic ... - Blackherbals.com

Continued from page 7 – President Bush donates 500,000Mosquito Nets“We are committed to helping our African partners buildon these efforts, and so I want to share with you two newendeavours: First, America will expand our cooperationwith the government of Uganda, and the non-profitgroup, Malaria No More, to distribute more than a half-amillionbed nets in Uganda,” President Bush said.Malaria is one of the most deadly and prevalent diseasesin Sub-Saharan Africa and also the most preventable andtreatable. More than 1 million people die of malaria eachyear, 75 percent of them African children, and more than300 million people worldwide fall ill from malariaannually.According to the 2006 Malaria Country Action Plan forUganda, household ownership of bed nets is only 25%and that only 15% of children under five are sleepingunder a treated bed net. The President’s Malaria Initiativeestablished a goal that 85% of children under five and85% of all pregnant women will have slept under a bednet by 2010.“Working in partnership with the President’s MalariaInitiative and Malaria No More will produce a total of530,000 bed nets for Uganda together,” according to theorganisation’s website.☻☻☻☻☻☻Ministry, PMI in JointCampaign against MalariaIsaiah Kitimbo, KaliroDaily MonitorApril 30, 2007The President’s Malaria Initiative, Malaria No More, andthe Ministry of Health have started a joint campaign todistribute 580,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets.The nets are to be distributed to pregnant women,children under five and other vulnerable people in 26districts.The group last week launched the free mosquito netdistribution campaign at Kaliro district headquarters.The ceremony was officiated by the Health MinisterStephen Mallinga.Malaria is the leading cause of death in Uganda.Paid for by PMI and Malaria No More, the nets will bedistributed alongside 1.8 million others from the GlobalFund.“This is an example of how collaboration can help us withour mission: saving lives together and working togethertowards our common goal of stopping malaria” PMICoordinator Tim Ziemer said in a press release.“It will only be through working hand in hand with otherorganizations that we achieve our goal given to us byPresident Bush of stopping malaria and protecting thosewho are most susceptible and in most need.”President Bush launched the PMI in 2005 and challenge therest of the world to match the $1.2 billion pledge, to reducemalaria deaths by 50 per cent in 15 African countries.Mr. Bush urged that the PMI be a collaborative USgovernment effort led by the US Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID).☻☻☻☻☻☻Continued from page 10 – Study Suggests New Malaria DrugAccording to the researchers, Duo Cotecxin was superior toCoartem for reducing the risk of recurrent parasitemia andgametocytemia, and provided improved hemoglobinrecovery.Parasitemia is the quantitative content of parasites in theblood while gametocytes refer to one of the stages in thelife cycle of the malaria parasite. Gametocytemia thereforemeans the parasites presence in the blood.The study findings show that patients treated with DuoCotecxin had a significantly lower risk of recurrentparasitemia in both falciparum and non-falciparuminfections.Both Duo Cotecxin and Coartem are fixed dose coformulatedArtemisinin-based combination therapies(ACTs). ACTs are a newer group of anti-malarials thatproduce fast response in patients, are active against multidrug-resistantP. falciparum malaria, are well tolerated bypatients and have the potential to reduce malariatransmission by decreasing gametocyte carriage.However, researchers contend that Duo Cotecxin has asimpler, once daily dosing schedule compared to Coartem,which is provided twice daily, ideally with a fatty meal.Despite the excellent initial parasite clearance by thetwo drugs as indicated in the study and the provision ofinsecticide treated nets at enrollment, the researchersobserved that approximately half of all participantsexperienced recurrent malaria within 42 days.The researchers said the finding emphasizes the need formore aggressive approaches to malaria control in areas withvery high malaria transmission.-11- Traditional African Clinic July/August 2007To reduce new malaria infections, they called a sustainedContinued on page 12