MALARLIFE • NEWS
RBM Drive Effort to Boost Antimalarial Drug Supply.
June 15, 2005
By WHO News Release

Dr. Bola Omoniyi from Doctors For Life International's three-day conference aimed at ensuring a reliable supply of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), the most effective antimalarial medicines currently available, was held in Arusha from June 6 to 8. A dependable supply of ACTs is crucial for preventing hundreds of thousands of deaths each year from falciparum malaria, the deadliest form of the disease. Falciparum malaria causes asmany as 400 million infections and at least a million deaths, some 80 percent of them in sub-Saharan Africa, annually.

Dr Bola Omoniyi with Dr. Jack Chow the WHO Assistant Director -General for HIV/AIDS, TB & Malaria.

The meeting, which was convened by the Roll Back Malaria Department of the World Health Organization (WHO), brought together growers of Artemisia annua – the plant containing artemisinin, the raw material needed to manufacture ACTs – representatives of international and non-governmental organizations, government agencies and companies engaged in making these medicines available to malaria patients and officials from the ministries of health and agriculture of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and the ministry of trade of Tanzania.

Dr Bola Omoniyi with Dr. Fatoumata Nafo- Traor, Director of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Department of the World Health Organization (WHO), on a tour of Artemisia farms in Arusha, Tanzania

This is the first time actors involved in every step of the ACT production chain – from planting of seeds to the processing of artemisinin to manufacturing of finished pharmaceuticals – had the opportunity to meet together.

Participants in the meeting reviewed the status of ACT supply and anticipated demand in the light of experiences over the past two years; pinpointed technical questions that need to be addressed by research and examined strategies to create a sustainable market so as to reduce the price of these vital medicines.

Attendees of the conference included growers of Artemisia annua the plant containing artemisinin, the raw material needed to manufacture ACTs, representatives of international and non-governmental organizations, government agencies and pharmaceutical companies engaged in supplying ACTs.

They also visited nearby farms where Artemisia annua is now being cultivated on a large scale. Until recently, the world’s supply of the plant was produced exclusively in Asia. Now growers in East Africa, where the plant thrives, are seizing a good economic opportunity – while securing the raw material needed for a sufficient ACT supply.

Turning over a new leaf: Tanzanian farmers growing Artemisia annua

Dr Fatoumata Nafo-Traoré, director of the RBM Department, examines recently planted Artemisia annua seedlings at a farm near Arusha, Tanzania
Photo: Bola Omoniyi

Among the many actors taking centre stage in the fight against malaria, farmers now have a starring role. A tall, attractive plant, Artemisia annua, contains an active ingredient crucial to the manufacture of artemsinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), the most effective antimalarial medicines available today. The plant was formerly grown exclusively in China and Viet Nam. Since autumn 2004 farmers in East Africa have began cultivating the plant on a large scale.

Dr. Omoniyi speaking at the WHO conference on artemisinin and artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) for the treatment of malaria.

Video journalist and photographer Stephenie Hollyman recently visited Tanzanian Artemisia annua farmers, who are featured in this photoessay.