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Subsidies for malaria treatment could save 25,000 lives a month

New York Janice Tanne

Subsidies for combination treatments in countries where malaria is endemic are urgently needed to forestall drug resistance and save lives, warns a paper published this week.

A subsidy of only $100m (£57m; €83m) to $200m for artemisinin based combination drugs might be needed, said Ramanan Laxminarayan, from Resources for the Future, a non-profit, independent organisation based in Washington, DC, and the paper’s lead author.

He said that if such a subsidy programme was implemented within three months, up to 25 000 lives a month could be saved (Health Affairs 2006;25:325-36).

Dr Laxminarayan, whose coauthors are from the World Bank and the US National Institutes of Health, said, “Providing the subsidies is probably the most important thing the world can do for malaria today. I can’t think of another public health program that could be deployed so rapidly and would save as many lives. One and a . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Laxminarayan, R., Gelband, H. (2009). A Global Subsidy: Key To Affordable Drugs For Malaria?. Health Aff (Millwood) 28: 949-961 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Burns-Cox, C. J, Rouse, A., Halpin, D., Mayor, V., Marshall, T. (2006). Guantanamo: a call for action: would GMC dismiss a complaint against Guantanamo doctor?. BMJ 332: 855-855 [Full text]