Malaria
Malaria is the single greatest killer of African children, claiming the lives of roughly one million young children every year and hindering the development of many who survive. In addition to the toll this disease takes on families, malaria overwhelms struggling health systems, accounting for as many as half of all hospital admissions in some countries, and costs African countries an estimated $12 billion every year in lost productivity.
Despite a surge in funding and attention from the global community in recent years, the majority of African families don’t benefit from the tools necessary to stop malaria, including bed nets and effective medicines. Building on its successful approaches to changing the marketplace for HIV/AIDS medicines, CHAI expanded its work in 2007 to help increase access to effective malaria treatment.
Increasing Access to Effective Treatment
Unlike some diseases, malaria can be quickly and fully cured without even a doctor’s visit. However, over the last 20 years, the malaria parasite has grown resistant to many of the leading treatments sold at local drugshops. While safe, effective alternatives, known as artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), are now available, they remain too expensive for the normal buyer, who continues to buy the ineffective treatments instead.
CHAI is working to eliminate barriers to widespread use of ACTs, including cost. In many countries in Africa, half of malaria treatments are dispensed in drug shops, where ACTs cost $10. Malaria experts theorized that a supply-side subsidy could lower this price, and CHAI in 2007 launched a pilot to prove the concept. In less than six months, prices have decreased to $0.50, and ACT uptake has increased by 45%. These results are helping to guide the design of a potential global subsidy for ACTs, known as the Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria (AMFm).
Helping Countries Eliminate Malaria
Today, many countries believe that the total elimination of malaria in some areas on the border of major malaria zones is possible. In Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, the governments have set targets to completely eliminate the disease by 2015. CHAI has begun providing support to several of these countries to rapidly and effectively plan, resource, and execute elimination programs. CHAI is also helping these countries to identify and secure additional funding to enable them to quickly implement their elimination plans and ensure that malaria is not reintroduced from neighboring countries.
Making Malaria Medication More Affordable
UPDATE: On July 17, President Clinton announced an agreement with six suppliers that will lower the price of a leading malaria medicine by 30%, and that will reduce the price volatility of artmesinin, the key raw ingredient for this drug and other effective malaria medicines by 70%. Over the past six years alone, the price of this key raw material has ranged from $150 to $1,100, a 700% swing in pricing. This agreement will enable affordable access to the highest quality medicines for hundreds of thousands of people across all 71 countries in CHAI's Procurement Consortium. Read full news story.
