Drug resistant falciparum malaria: clinical consequences and strategies for prevention

The rising prevalence of multidrug resistant falciparum malaria is occurrin g at an alarming rate and has serious implications for the health of many o f the worlds poorest countries. The dangers of not changing treatment pract ices immediately are huge and irreversible, threatening to both exacerbate the scale and scope of the malaria pandemic, and deprive policymakers of fu ture options against the disease. If a health care disaster is to be avoide d then massive and long term funding is urgently required. Funds need to be applied in a cohesive manner, accountable to funding bodies and tailored t o the specifics of each endemic region. The key elements of such an approac h should be improving early diagnosis and treatment of infection and the de ployment of combination regimens containing an artemisinin derivative. Thes e short term measures will need to be accompanied by a longer term strategy to encourage antimalarial drug research and development. (C) 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.