New malaria drug for babies offers hope to health workers in Uganda
The Ugandan farmer said recently that she regretted the loss of what would have been her second child 'because I didn't discover malaria and treat it early.'
Variations of such cases are commonly reported by Ugandan health workers who witness stillbirths or feverish babies that die within days from undiagnosed malaria. The deaths are part of a wider death toll tied to the mosquito-borne disease, the deadliest across Africa, but one easily treated in adults who seek timely medical care.
Until recently, a major gap in malaria treatment was how to care for newborns and infants infected with malaria who weren't strong enough to receive regular medication. That changed last month when Swiss medical regulators approved medicine from the Basel-based pharmaceutical company Novartis for babies weighing between 2 and 5 kilograms (nearly 4½ to 11 pounds).
Swissmedic said the treatment, a sweet-tasting tablet that disperses into a syrup when dropped into water, was approved in coordination with the World Health Organization under a fast-track authorization process to help developing countries access much-needed treatment.
Africa's 1.5 billion people accounted for 95% of an estimated 597,000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2023, according to the WHO. More than three-quarters of those deaths were among children.
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