Success Stories
Curing Malaria in Angolan Children with Drugs that Work
Photo: USAID/Angola, Alison Bird
Maria José Inés has seen many patients with malaria over the years. This year, she is seeing something different.
As Chief Nurse at the Benfica Baixa Health Center in the city of Huambo in Angola, Maria has treated malaria patients with a wide range of antimalarial drugs. This year, as part of the introduction of artemether-lumefantrine (AL or Coartem®) in Angola, she has begun using the new medication in place of the old standys: cloroquine and amodiaquine. The differences between the old drugs and the new one are striking. As Maria explains, “Coartem is the best drug we have. With Coartem, 100 percent of patients with malaria are cured. With the other drugs, many people come back with malaria because of resistance.”
The year 2007 marks the first widespread use of Coartem as first-line treatment for malaria in Angola. To date, 55 health facilities in Huambo Province (including hospitals, health centers, and one health post) have begun using the new drug. PMI has supported technical assistance to improve the drug logistics system, training of health workers, and Coartem procurement. The arrival of the new drug could not have been timelier, with malaria parasite resistance levels estimated at 50 percent with chloroquine. Thus far, resistance to Coartem has not been observed, meaning that many people who were once treated with partially effective or ineffective drugs and now being completely cured. Thus, fewer patients develop severe malaria and die as a result of malaria infection. In addition to improved effectiveness in clearing parasites, Maria adds that “we don’t encounter many negative side effects,” so patients are more likely to complete their treatments.
With the planned rollout of Coartem to all health facilities in the province, followed by expansion to other provinces, large numbers of Angolans will finally have an effective weapon against the country’s number one killer. Patients are already beginning to ask for the drug when they go for consultations. Maria recounts “people are starting to know Coartem. They come in and ask for ‘that new drug for malaria with the pills in a card. That’s the one that helped my baby.’"
