New Approach To Face Malaria Challenges
10 November 2008
Malaria Press Club: Home-based Treatment of Malaria, 7 November 2008
By Garriba Frank, The Eden Newspaper
The Permanent Secretary of the NMCP, Dr Ndong à Bessong, advanced reasons for a new programme to face challenges of Malaria in Cameroon. Ndong à Bessong whose outfit is at the centre of the new strategy, has said that just about 40% of malaria patients have access to treatment while only 20% actually go to the hospital for medical care, reason why the home-based approach is considered worthwhile.
He also hoped that the training of community health agents being used to carry out home-based treatment of malaria would do just their job because they were carefully selected and are well known in their various communities.
He was speaking at the Malaria Press Club meeting of CCAM in Yaounde on 7 November 2008.
Public Health Minister, André Mama Fouda, officially launched the programme for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in homes during a press briefing he chaired in Yaounde early October. The programme concerns the use of ACTs, a new effective treatment against the killer disease malaria.
According to the Permanent Secretary of the anti-malaria programme, ACT is a combination of drugs which have been proven effective in the treatment of uncomplicated malaria cases. The two types of ACT approved in Cameroon by the Ministry of Public Health thanks to world funds for the fight against AIDS, TB and Malaria are the Artesunate-Amodiaquine and Artemether-Lumefantrine combinations, adopted to fight resistance developed by monotherapies and the anti-malaria combinations.
The dosage of each combination varies according to four age groups. Babies between 1 month and 2 years are to be administered 2 tablets of Artemether-Lumefantrine per day, one tablet in the morning and another at night for 3 consecutive days, while children between 3 and 8 years are to take 4 tablets each day in 2 doses for the same length of time. Adolescents from 9-11 years are to take 6 tablets each day, while adults from 11 years and above 8 tablets in 2 doses each day for 3 days.
As for the Artesunate-Amodiaquine tablets, all age groups ranging from babies between 2 and 11 months, 1-5 years and 6-13 years are to be administered a tablet dose each day for 3 days, with the exception of adults from 14 years above who are to take 2 tablets each day.
Dr Ndong insisted that the prices of Artesunate-Amodiaquine tablets, which are subsidised by government, vary according to age groups and the provision centres. In public health facilities, the drug combination costs FCFA 140 for babies, 230 for adolescents and 400 for adults, while in private pharmacies, it costs FCFA 235 for babies, 385 for adolescents and 665 for adults. Meanwhile, unsubscribed Artemether-Lumefantrine is also available in public health facilities and private pharmacies. Although undetermined, the prices of this combination are expected to stay within the reach of the populations. He joined the government to warn that the public should be vigilant so as not to be duped in the prices.
Minister Mama Fouda had earlier warned against any wayward practices by the trained community health relay agents who are to be consulted and informed on cases of side effects of the drugs. He promised severe sanctions to anyone caught in unwarranted acts, the punishments including suspension of the perpetrator and even legal measures so as to avoid a repeat of the situation whereby distributors of LLINs are wont to sell the materials or given them out on tribal or relation basis.
Some 15,300 community health workers drawn from all 10 provinces of Cameroon were last October 2008 trained to carry out home-based malaria management during early symptoms of the disease by the use of the 2 combinations available in public health facilities and private pharmacies which have signed a contract with the Ministry of Public Health.
According to the WHO, represented at the ceremony by the institution’s resident representative in Cameroon, a child dies every 30 seconds from malaria in Africa. The situation remains alarming in Cameroon, with 35-40% deaths from malaria registered in public health facilities. This is why the WHO official hailed the organisers of the new programme, stating that the present malaria situation necessitates the striking of the alarm bell in the face of this malady which is no longer an individual or state affair but that of the humanity at large.
