05 May Cheaper Drugs are Spearheading the Fight Against Malaria
Posted at 14:49h
in News
Michel Kazatchkine and Philippe Douste-Blazy, Huffington Post
When the daughter of Hajia Aisha, a young jobless mother in Nigeria, fell ill with malaria earlier this year, Hajia saved her life by rushing out to a shop and buying state of the art medication for the equivalent of just 25 U.S. cents.
Only a year ago Hajia could not have afforded the treatment because she would have had to pay the full unsubsidized cost for it — 40 times more than what she actually paid. Her daughter is alive and healthy today thanks to an international initiative which is putting affordable and highly effective antimalarial drugs, called artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs), within reach of even some of the remotest communities in Africa.