The National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) of the Federal Ministry of Health has said that Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) remain the most effective drugs for the treatment of malaria in the country.
The Programme Officer, NMEP, Wudi Tanko, who disclosed this in a presentation titled: “Effective Malaria Case Management, Appropriate Use of Malaria Medicines at a media parley in Abuja, stated that ACTs are the recommended treatments for uncomplicated malaria globally.
He said if a patient fails to respond to treatment after two to three days, there is a need to review diagnosis, dosage and investigate further for other diseases.
She explained that ACTs are more effective because two or more of the drugs attacked the parasite from different sites, with a delay in the development of resistance, adding that combination therapies could enhance and sustain efficacy, as well as improving treatment outcomes by mopping up residual parasites.
Tanko stated that Artemether-Lumefantrine (AL), Artesunate–Amodiaquine (AA), Dihydroartemisinine–Piperaquine (DHP) and Artesunate-Pyronaridine (PA) are medicines of choice for uncomplicated malaria treatment, stressing that they come in different dose combinations to promptly cure the disease and prevent progression.
She observed that the use of monotherapy which is the use of only one anti-malaria medicine to treat malaria has been banned in the country, pointing out that most of such therapies consist of artesunate and artemether injection, chloroquine, and sulfadoxine pyrimethamine (SP).
Tanko noted that the use of monotherapy can lead to increased disease severity and the development of drug resistance.
According to her, chloroquine and SP are failed drugs, while Artesunate and Artemether injections only last between 30 minutes to one and two hours in the body.
She noted that both drugs attacked malaria parasites fast but were not sustained in the body to mop up residual parasites. Also speaking, NMEP National Coordinator, Godwin Ntadom, urged Nigerians to ensure constant environmental sanitation to reduce the burden of malaria.
Ntadom warned that it is not all fever that is malaria and stressed the need for Nigerians to go for tests before treating malaria. The Assistant Director, Surveillance, Monitoring and Evaluation of the NMEP, Tolulope Fagbemi, urged Nigerians to ensure that they sleep under the treated mosquito nets.
