Using new tools and drugs to stop malaria

Early diagnosis and prompt treatment of malaria eases the burden of the disease, helping to prevent unnecessary suffering and death. Effective case management means accurately diagnosing and treating fever-based illness within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms—a challenging task in rural areas, where the nearest health center might be hours away. Now, innovative technologies and drugs are being used to fight the disease in some of the hardest-to-reach places: Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) can diagnose malaria with just the prick of a finger and are easy enough to use that properly trained community-based health workers are able to administer them safely and effectively. Confirmed cases of malaria are treated with the most powerful treatment available—artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs)—and severe cases are immediately referred to health centers for medical attention.

ACTs were developed in response to growing widespread resistance to conventional antimalarial drugs like chloroquine and are now recommended by the World Health Organization as the first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria. RDTs can help ensure the continued efficacy of ACTs, by making sure that the drug is only administered when needed.

Prevention is also an important part of case management, and particularly for pregnant women. Pregnant women in malaria endemic areas are encouraged to take two doses of an antimalarial drug during the second and third terms of their pregnancy. This strategy, called intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy, is available in antenatal clinics and is administered by community health workers. These workers are increasingly at the frontlines of malaria control, playing a critical role in successful case management.

Many countries in Africa have now changed their national drug policies to support the use of ACTs, RDTs are widely available, and tens of thousands of trained community health workers are volunteering across the continent.

Photo: David Jacobs.