The UN World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday that the emergence of a drug-resistant form of malaria in South-East Asia could seriously undermine global successes in controlling the disease.
There is new evidence of parasites resistant to artemisinin – the main drug used to treat the disease – along the border between Cambodia and Thailand where workers walk for miles every day to clear forests.
“If we do not put a stop to the drug-resistant malaria situation that has been documented in the Thai-Cambodia border, it could spread rapidly to neighbouring countries and threaten our efforts to control this deadly disease,” said Dr. Hiroki Nakatani, WHO Assistant Director-General.
Artemisinin-based combination therapies, or ACTs, have proven to be a major breakthrough in treating malaria. However, malaria drug resistance now emerging along the Thai-Cambodia border threatens these gains.
Malaria poses a risk to half of the worlds population and more than one million people die of the disease each year. According to WHO, there are no effective alternatives to artemisinins for the treatment of malaria either on the market or nearing the end of the drug development process.
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