Millions of Dollars Donated for Malaria Drugs Stolen

[waltky]

Sounds like the work of Dastardly Dan...

Millions of Dollars Donated for Malaria Drugs Stolen
Apr 20, 2011 - A leading global health fund believes millions of dollars worth of its donated malaria drugs have been stolen in recent years - perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars worth - vastly exceeding levels of theft previously suspected, according to confidential documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The internal investigation by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria comes two months into a new anti-corruption program that the fund launched after an AP report detailing fraud in their grants attracted intense scrutiny from donors. In internal documents detailing drug thefts, officials identified 13 countries, mostly in Africa, where millions of dollars worth of malaria drugs have gone missing. According to the reports, drug theft "appears to be on the rise and (is) becoming increasingly sophisticated."

The reports were provided to AP by an official with a different health organization, who did so on condition of anonymity because he was granted confidential access to the documents by a Global Fund staffer. Global Fund spokesman Jon Liden confirmed the broad outlines of the information but would not comment on specific numbers. "We take this very seriously and we will do what it takes to protect our investment," he said.

An AP report in January exposing high rates of misappropriated money in some Global Fund grants bruised the reputation of the multibillion-dollar fund, backed by big names including Bono and Bill Gates and hailed as an alternative to the bureaucracy of the United Nations. But the fact that these revelations have come to light at all may be due to stricter self-policing policies and greater transparency at the Global Fund compared with other aid organizations.

After discovering the scope of the malaria drug thefts, the new documents indicate, the fund took prompt action, suspending grants for medicines to be stored at government warehouses in Swaziland and Malawi. The report confirmed that $2.5 million worth of malaria drugs were stolen from Togo, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Swaziland and Cambodia, dating mainly from 2009 to 2011, but with some cases going further back.

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[Sense]

Yep we shouldnt have ever sent aid over there to begin with.

 

[waltky]

Fixin' the skeeters...

Scientists tweak mosquito genes to fight malaria
20 Apr.`11 - Genetic manipulation could be used to reduce spread of disease

Scientists working on malaria have found a way of genetically manipulating large populations of mosquitoes that could eventually dramatically reduce the spread of the deadly disease. In a study in the journal Nature, researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Washington in Seattle found that after making specific genetic changes to a few mosquitoes and then allowing them to breed, genetic alterations could be spread through large mosquito populations in just a few generations.

They said this was the first successful proof-of-principle experiment of its kind. In the future, the method may be used to spread genetic changes in wild mosquito populations to make them less able to transmit malaria. "This is an exciting technological development, one which I hope will pave the way for solutions to many global health problems," said Andrea Crisanti of Imperial's life sciences department, who led the study.

Malaria is an infectious disease that affects more than 240 million people every year, and kills around 850,000 annually — many of them children in Africa. Health experts have called for malaria eradication and genetic ways of manipulating or eradicating mosquitoes have been suggested as possible alternatives to existing control methods such as pesticides and bednets. But the success of a genetic approach depends on getting the genetic modification to spread effectively in large mosquito populations.

In these new experiments, the scientists showed that a modified genetic element — a homing end nuclease gene called I-SceI — can efficiently spread through caged populations of mosquitoes. The genetic element "homes" to a particular portion of the DNA, they explained, where it becomes integrated into the broken chromosome. This process — known as genetic drive — could be used to transmit a genetic change through a population of mosquitoes that affects the insects' ability to carry malaria.

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[waltky]

Olea africana being cut down for cooking fuel and other uses...

Africa's Malaria-Fighting Trees Threatened
May 02, 2011 : The threatened African wild olive, Olea africana, has anti-malarial properties that scientists say deserve further study.

Researchers warn that East African plants that could cure malaria could disappear before scientists have a chance to study them. The World Health Organization estimates 800,000 people die of malaria each year, most of them young children in Africa. A new book by scientists at the World Agroforestry Centre, "Common Antimalarial Trees and Shrubs of East Africa," identifies 22 tree and shrub species that traditional healers in East Africa use to fight the disease. But, the researchers say, they are being cut down for cooking fuel and other uses and could disappear before scientists have a chance to study them.

Herbal medicine

A person suffering from malaria in East Africa is likely to visit a local herbalist for treatment. Lead author Najma Dharani at the World Agroforestry Center in Kenya says the traditional healer may recommend the patient take a few grams of a plant known locally as knobwood. Either root or bark may be used, fresh or as powder. "It's quite bitter," she says. "Drink it for three or four days, until it cures a person." Dharani and her colleagues at the Kenya Medical Research Institute have used modern science to identify promising malaria-fighting compounds in knobwood and 21 other trees and shrubs native to the region.

Traditional cures at risk

She has spent the last 12 years studying medicinal plants in East Africa with the potential to treat a range of diseases. A lot more research is needed to identify how effective they are and how they work, but she notes that they have been used by traditional healers for centuries. "This is not today's knowledge," she says. "This is very old knowledge, indigenous knowledge, which has been disappearing because the youngsters don't take it (up)." The knowledge is not all that's disappearing. Dharani says the some of these anti-malarial trees and shrubs are being cut down at an alarming pace, along with other wood in the area, largely to make charcoal. That's the cooking fuel of choice for many poor people around the world who can't afford other options.

Limited options for treatment

 

[Two Thumbs]

shocker

you mean to tell me there's more fraud, theft, waste, and abuse of our money abroad than at home?

i'm just floored. no really

 

[waltky]

Stubborn hotspots challenge anti-malaria efforts...

Malaria hotspots 'need new approach'
14 April 2013 - Novel measures are needed to tackle malaria hotspots in countries with low levels of the disease, scientists say.

Countries such as Malaysia and Bhutan have seen malaria levels fall - but pockets of infection remain, mainly among men living or working outdoors. Writing in the Lancet, the scientists say this means that measures, such as nets, that help in homes are ineffective. Instead, treated hammocks or clothing could be more useful.

'Hot pops'

In countries where there are high levels of malaria, it is largely women and young children who are affected. But in places where there has been success in reducing overall levels, it is adult men who bear most risk. Those working in forests or plantations, or sleeping in fields overnight to protect crops, are all specific groups - known as "hot pops" (populations). In the Philippines it was found that men who went to forests at night to hunt or gather wood were six times more likely to be infected than other men. In Sri Lanka, where malaria incidence fell by 99.9% between 1999 and 2011, the proportion of infections in men rose from 54% to 93%. The Lancet paper suggests this might be linked to the conflict in the island, which ran from 1983 to 2009. Other groups who are disproportionately affected include ethnic or political minorities who are typically poor and often on the move.

Malarial burdens

The authors of the paper say different measures are needed compared with traditional malaria prevention work. Prof Sir Richard Feachem, director of the Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco, the study's lead author, said: "The malaria control strategies implemented over the last decade have been highly successful in reducing malaria worldwide. "However, these strategies must evolve to respond effectively to the changing patterns of infection in low transmission areas. "More sophisticated and targeted approaches to identifying those people who are infected, and responding promptly and effectively, must be put in place. "The good news is that these new approaches are being pioneered with great success in countries such as China, Sri Lanka and Swaziland."

In addition, a different type of malarial parasite is causing problems, Traditionally, the Plasmodium falciparum parasite has been the one responsible for most malaria cases around the world. But the success in controlling P. falciparum in many countries has resulted in an increasing proportion of infections from P. vivax, another malarial parasite. P. vivax is less likely to prove fatal, but is also harder to detect and treat, and therefore more difficult to control and eliminate. The researchers wrote in the Lancet: "As countries reduce their malaria burdens, strategies that address the changing epidemiology… need to be developed, validated and adopted."

BBC News - Malaria hotspots 'need new approach'

 

[waltky]

WHO puts out call for emergency funding response to DR-Malaria...

WHO Seeks Funding for Emergency Response to Drug-resistant Malaria
October 25, 2013 — The World Health Organization is warning that about $450 million is needed over the next three years to stop a strain of drug-resistant malaria from spreading beyond Southeast Asia to the rest of the world. Researchers say the artemisinin-resistant strain has spread to Burma and Vietnam since it was first detected along the Cambodian-Thai border in 2008.

In addition to sounding the alarm about drug-resistant malaria, the World Health Organization is rolling out an emergency response to what it terms a potentially serious global health threat. The first line of defense against the deadliest strain of malaria, treatment based on artemisinin medication, is failing. WHO team leader Eva-Maria Christophel in Manila says the organization is now ensuring sufficient surveillance has been put in place in the areas around the strain's origin in the Greater Mekong sub-region. "All countries in the Asia-Pacific region are able to really monitor, at a high quality, the drug-resistance situation in their countries so that we really know whether there are further problems somewhere else. And, then, if discovered then similar containment responses must be launched," said Christophel.

A malaria patient is comforted in the only hospital in Pailin, western Cambodia.

Christophel says communities where an outbreak is detected will get special attention. "They will see a quite significant amount of malaria control and elimination activities being rolled out which both cover diagnosis and treatment, cover the preventive part in terms of bed nets. In some countries, also indoor residual sprayings and health education for malaria so that people really know what this all about and how they can protect themselves," said Christophel.

Most at risk are villagers living on the fringes of forests, a favorite habitat of the mosquitoes which transmit Plasmodium faciparum, a protozoan parasite, to humans. A three-day dose of the drug artemisinin, combined with other medications, can kill most of the parasites. The WHO says resistance to artemisinin may have been caused by the parasite's long exposure to the drug, as well as the use of substandard or counterfeit medications in Asia and Africa. WHO says a pledge of $100 million to fight the spread of drug-resistant malaria has been given by the Swiss-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. But a funding gap of $450 million still remains.

WHO Seeks Funding for Emergency Response to Drug-resistant Malaria

See also:

Drug Development Lags for Neglected Diseases
October 24, 2013 ~ Of the 850 new drugs and vaccines approved for all diseases over the past decade, only 37 were for so-called neglected diseases: malaria, TB, chagas, sleeping sickness and other diseases of poverty.

A new study published in The Lancet Global Health highlights what its authors call a 'fatal imbalance' in research and development of treatments for the world's poorest patients.

Neglected diseases — prevalent primarily in poor countries — account for more than 11 percent of the global disease burden, and are a leading cause of mortality, chronic disability, and poverty. Examining recent progress toward fighting these diseases, researchers from the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, Doctors Without borders and other medical groups found only a handful of clinical trials underway or in development.

The authors acknowledge that pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have little financial incentive to invest R-and-D funds in finding treatments or cures for neglected diseases, and point to a failure of public policy to encourage them. They conclude, "Despite substantial political attention towards the burden of neglected diseases, we detected no evidence of a substantial improvement in research and development activity compared with previous decades."

Drug Development Lags for Neglected Diseases

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I guess no scientists watched the movies about mutated cockroaches?
Lab tests do not react the same in the wild, introducing mutations could back fire in a big way.

 

[HUGGY]

Yep we shouldnt have ever sent aid over there to begin with.

"We"? Unless YOU are Bill Gates, Bono or Warren Buffet your opinion on charitable giving is as valuable as a drop of mouse piss in the ocean.

 

[waltky]

Malaria drugs bein' stolen in Malawi...

Can Rampant Theft of Malaria Drugs in Malawi Be Stopped?
April 13, 2016 — Malawi is trying to stop the rampant theft of malaria medicines from its public hospitals. A recent study found the robberies are costing the country millions of dollars each year, and the United States has threatened to stop providing the drugs if authorities do not get the situation under control.

Malaria is the cause of 40 percent of hospital deaths in Malawi, according to the Ministry of Health. It is the cause of over a quarter of outpatient visits. The U.S. government and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria provide Malawi’s public hospitals with nearly all of their stock of life-saving malaria treatment drugs. By law, those medicines should be distributed free of charge. But a recent study by the Ministry of Health revealed that 30 percent of those malaria drugs are stolen from the Central Medical Stores warehouse in the capital, Lilongwe. Seventy percent of what remains is disappearing from medical facilities around the country, the study found.

Malaria drugs are seen on display in a privatley owned pharmacy in Blantyre, Malawi (L. Masina/VOA). Seventy percent of malaria drugs are disappearing from medical facilities around the country, a study found.​

Edward Monster, the public affairs officer at the U.S. embassy in Malawi, says the stolen drugs end up being sold on the street. “Instead of the government pharmacy providing that medication free of charge to Malawian citizens that need it, they are told at [the] government’s pharmacy that there is no medication available. But they can go down the road to a market place and buy the medication for a fee. That is, unfortunately, criminal,” Monster said. The U.S. and the Global Fund have partnered with Malawi on two campaigns to allow Malawians to report suspected theft using a toll-free number or by email. “And I would like to point out that under the “Make a Difference” campaign which is funded by the United States government, there are actually cash rewards that can be paid to people who provide credible, usable information that will lead to conviction of the thieves who are stealing these malaria medications,” Monster said.

Penalties seen as too lenient

But health authorities say the penalties laid out in the Pharmacy, Medicines and Poison Act are too lenient. Adrian Chikumbe, spokesperson for the Malawi’s Ministry of Health, says several culprits have been arrested but then released after paying small fines. “If one steals drugs worth millions (of Malawian kwacha), [he] is fined MK 5,000 (US$7). That is almost nothing. So we are actually working with the parliamentary committee on health so that we could have this law reviewed so that we have stiffer punishment,” said Chikumbe. The chairperson of the parliamentary committee on health told VOA that stiffer penalties are needed. She said the committee is in the advanced stages of reviewing the law.

Drug shortagеs are a common problem in Malawi hospitals, like this rehabilitation center in Blantyre, Malawi (L. Masina/VOA). The problem is rampant with Malaria drugs many of which disappear from hospitals and end up being sold on the street.​

Medical staff are believed to be involved in the theft of the medicine and some local rights groups also point to high-level corruption. The president of the National Organization of Nurses, Joyce Ngoma, said the health system needs an overhaul from the top down. “You find that the thieves and all the culprits, we know them. They have been named and shamed before. And [they] are the ones who have been promoted and given the jobs now to be in charge. What do you expect?” Ngoma asked. Authorities say they will act on all tips received from citizens and this time, no perpetrators will be spared.

Can Rampant Theft of Malaria Drugs in Malawi Be Stopped?