Antimalarial drugs and the control and elimination of malaria

Abstract

Malaria remains a massive global public health problem despite being readily preventable and treatable. The past decade has seen unprecedented levels of political, technical and financial support that have facilitated the scaling-up of malaria control interventions, particularly the implementation of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) policies. During this window of opportunity for reducing the burden of malaria globally and possibly eventually eliminating malaria, attention now needs to be focussed on ensuring that countries select and implement treatment policies that are not only highly effective, but will also have a prolonged useful therapeutic life, reduce malaria transmission safely and effectively and, where applicable, be active against P. vivax. To reduce the probability of resistance, antimalarials should be used in quality-assured fixed-dose combinations and treatment doses need to be optimised on the basis of pharmacokinetic assessments conducted within therapeutic efficacy studies in each key target population. As important is ensuring optimal targeting and adherence with these treatment policies.