Serious action dey needed as medicine no dey fit treat malaria again

Scientists don drag ear warn say millions of lives dey at risk unless urgent and radical action happun to stop di spread of drug resistant malaria for Africa.

Malaria parasites wey fit do odeshi for di effects of di critical drug artemisinin don tanda gidigba for East Africa.

Resistance levels don rise for for some areas from 1% to ova 20% of cases in three years.

Di last time malaria bin do odeshi for medicine di number of pikin wey die triple.

Twenty-eight leading malaria scientists from 10 kontris na dem make di call to action for di journal Science.

Artemisinin dey kill di malaria parasite and na di koko of treatment.

Parasites wey fit chest artemisinin first evolve for Africa for Rwanda and den separately evolve for Uganda and Eritrea.

Dis resistant parasites don spread within dia kontris even pass border sef.

Now more dan 10% of malaria cases, na di resistant parasites cause am for Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.

“Now, di time don come to act bifor millions of pipo die sake of increasingly ineffective antimalarial treatments,” na wetin Prof Olugbenga Mokuolu, from di department of paediatrics for di University of Ilorin in Nigeria tok.

For 2016, resistant strains bin dey rare for northern Uganda. By 2019, ova 20% of parasites wey dem test bin dey resistant for plenti regions.

Di group of scientists say di further spread of dis resistant parasites dem dey unstoppable.

Dr Mehul Dhorda wey come from di Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit for Thailand tell me say e no clear how fast dat one go happun.

But sometin like dat don alreadi dey happun for South East Asia, wia artemisinin-based treatments don start to fail.

E say, "di time from di first time dem find am to wen e full everiwia na 10 to 15 years".

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Lessons from history

Sometin like dis don happun bifor. Malaria start to dey do odeshi for one drug bifor wey dem bin dey call, chloroquine for East Africa for di 1970s and resistance reach di west coast by di 1980s.

Malaria deaths for di continent rise from about 493,000 for 1980 to 1.6 million for 2004.

Dr Dhorda tell me say "I dey hope say dis no be sometin we go see for Africa. If artemisinin combination therapy start to dey fail, den cases and deaths go go up."

Di authors don bring out plenti suggestions wey go target both malaria and di mosquitoes wey dey bring am.

Dem suggest make dem add anoda medicine inside di artemisinin combination therapy so malaria go find am harder to chest di treatment.

Dr Dhorda tok say e go cost money but, "we fit spend little more now, if not we go dey spend plenti more to control di fire instead of to off am now bifor e spread wide."

Dem also ask for:

• Expanded coverage of insecticide-treated bed nets and long-acting insecticides wey pipo dey flit for house
• Target di new malaria vaccines to pipo of all ages instead of just pikin for areas wey get artemisinin-resistant malaria
• Support for community health workers so treatment go dey near everibodi domot
• Makes sure sat data of how dis resistant malaria dey spread dey shared sharp-sharp cos as at now long delays dey dey

Ntuli Kapologwe wey be di director of preventive services for Tanzania Ministry of Health tok say, "we ask funders, especially di Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria and di US goment President Malaria Initiative make dem get vision and to raise funding for malaria control and elimination programmes so dem go fit match brake for di spread of artemisinin resistance for Africa."

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