Malaria: test before treat

A new requirement by the World Health Organisation that all suspected malaria cases be tested before medication is welcome, and the government must move with speed to implement it.Kenya adopted, and is still using the previous WHO guidelines, which dictated that all fevers among children below the age of five be treated as malaria without diagnosis.But a recent research in Nairobi's Korogocho slums appearing in the Malaria Journal clearly indicates that the guideline had a tragic loophole.The study conducted by the African Population and Health Research Centre, among others, screened 983 people who had gone to Korogocho health centres with fevers, and none was found to be malaria-positive.Yet most had been given anti-malarial drugs or a prescription in respect, with the existing policies.The research by no means declares Nairobi a malaria-free zone. But it is a clear message that Kenyans are being given expensive anti-malarial drugs for wrong reasons.This is likely to compromise their immunity, and the malaria parasite is likely to develop resistance
http://www.fightingmalaria.org/news.aspx?id=1418