NAIROBI, 6 May (IRIN) - The World
Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Monday that it would provide technical
support to Tanzania for the commercial production of a plant-based medicine
reported to have the "highest cure rate" for malaria, UN News
reported.
The medicinal plant of Chinese origin,
whose scientific name is artemisia annua, is grown in Tanzania's southern
and northern highlands. WHO said its experts recently made a field visit
to Tanzania, and found that local production of the medicine was viable.
WHO reported that the raw plant was being exported to Europe for processing into anti-malarial medicines, that are then imported by African countries "and sold at a cost far beyond the means" of those in need.
"We are certainly excited by the prospects [for commercial production and marketing in Africa] of this medicine because it will be more affordable to those who need it the most," Ebrahim Samba, the WHO regional director, said.
WHO has been involved in the battle against the disease that kills a million people worldwide every year, 90 percent of them in Africa.
UN News reported that to support WHO's efforts, the Canadian International Development Agency has pledged US $6.5 million over five years to WHO to help strengthen traditional health systems for malaria control and prevention in Africa.
WHO said local production of the plant could mean a drop from the current $6 to $7 per dose to a more affordable $2 per dose, reducing the many lives lost to malaria. The agency estimated that one out of every five African children dies of malaria before the age of five years.
"We will also provide the country with pure artemisinin [the active medicine in the medicinal plant] and dihydro-artemisinin to serve as reference substances so as to guarantee the quality of local production," Samba said.
He added that WHO would also help with the necessary monitoring "to ensure the development of the requisite process technology locally".
[ENDS]
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