MALARIA: Myanmar Artemesinin resistance

YANGON, 18 May 2010 (IRIN) - Myanmar needs an estimated US$20 million to scale up malaria prevention measures, especially the distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets, early diagnosis and proper treatment, Osamu Kunii, chief of health and nutrition at the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Myanmar, told IRIN. "Some key challenges are insufficient funding available for malaria prevention and control activities, and [the] emergence of drug-resistant malaria," Kunii said. Evidence of tolerance to Artemisinin - the most effective drug used to treat malaria - has been found in the southeast, along the border with Thailand, and in southern Mon State. "It is very important to react aggressively to this threat," said Frank Smithuis, the former director of Médecins sans Frontières in Myanmar and now head of Medical Action Myanmar. "In Cambodia, where resistance to Artemisinin was first detected, an enormous effort is being made to contain the spread of resistance. This is all financed by the first-world countries," he said. "Surely there is no reason whatsoever not to give similar support to control malaria in Myanmar. It is urgent for the first world to increase humanitarian and development aid to control malaria in Myanmar."