‘Amalar, Anti-Malaria Tablets Not Banned’

The World Health Organisation (WHO), the National Malaria Control Programme and the Federal Ministry of Health, have said that Amalar tablets and other anti-malarial drugs composed of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) have not been banned for treatment of malaria.

A newpaper report alleged that the drug had been banned from being used in the treatment of malaria, but this was dispelled by the WHO and the Ministry of Health at the celebration of the World Malaria Day in Abuja recently.

The two bodies denied that they had banned the drug, reinstating their efficacy particularly in malaria prevention and control in pregnancy.

The WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr David Okello, who spoke on the issue during a press briefing to commemorate the World Malaria Day, however, stated that a ban should be placed on the usage of oral Artemisinin-based monotherapies, so as to reduce cases of drug resistance.

Okello said the best way to treat malaria was through the use of ACT (Artemisinin-based combination therapy) and not through monotherapies, adding that the above drugs could be used to treat malaria effectively.

The world health body called for the removal of taxes and tariffs on malaria commodities so as to ensure hitch-free availability of the drugs.

Okello urged research institutes to be on the alert against any resistance from malaria drugs, saying the monotherapies hasten the development of resistance and asked that they be gradually phased out of the market.