Saving lives by making malaria drugs more affordable
Monday, April 6, 2015 - 10:00
in Health & Medicine
The 'shelf life' of malaria-fighting drugs plays a significant role in how donors should subsidize the medicine in order to ensure better affordability for patients, a new report suggests. Forty percent of all malaria-caused deaths in sub-Saharan Africa occur in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, according to the World Health Organization. The private sector "supply chain" manages 74% of the drug volume in Congo and 98% in Nigeria where malaria-stricken patients rely on "drug shops" and other for-profit retail outlets to get life-saving medicine.