Global report on antimalarial drug efficacy and drug resistance

WWARN welcomes the publication of the World Health Organization report “Global report on antimalarial drug efficacy and drug resistance: 2000–2010” released 18 November 2010.

The report notes that resistance to artemisinins has been confirmed in one area, the Cambodia‐Thailand border. Intensified monitoring of antimalarial drug efficacy in neighbouring countries in South‐East Asia and Africa has uncovered areas, at the border between Myanmar and Thailand, between Myanmar and China, and in one province in Viet Nam, where delayed parasite clearance time after treatment with an artemisinin‐based combination therapy has been observed. This is not yet confirmed as resistance. WWARN supports the report’s recommendations which include a call for countries to be increasingly vigilant in monitoring antimalarial drug efficacy in order to allow for early detection of artemisinin resistance.

Download the full report.