EMPHASIS ON UNIVERSAL DIAGNOSTICS

This week the World Health Organization (WHO) released new guidelines for malaria treatment.
The main difference compared to the first edition is the emphasis on testing before starting treatment and the addition of a new artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) to the list of recommended treatments.
The aim is to reduce drug resistance and to help identify patients who do have the symptoms, but do not have malaria, so when the alternative diagnosis has been made the appropriate treatment can be provided to the patient.

Together with these guidelines the WHO also released a manual on good procurement practices for artemisinin-based antimalarial medicines. The 16-step practical checklist is a tool which helps procurement officers to select and procure effective medicines meeting international quality standards.

For more information please use the following WHO links:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2010/malaria_20100308/en/index.html.
http://www.who.int/malaria/publications/atoz/9789241547925/en/index.html.
http://www.who.int/malaria/publications/atoz/9789241598927/en/index.html