Content :

Malaria – The situation today

 

• What is malaria?
• Treatment
• Epidemiology
• Social consequences
• Sanofi-aventis and malaria

What is malaria?

Malaria is a parasitic disease, transmitted among humans via the intermediary of the Anopheles mosquito. Malaria causes attacks of fever and various other disorders.
The parasite, known as Plasmodium, colonizes and destroys red blood cells. It is the destruction of the latter that leads to malaria attacks, the symptoms of which are: sudden appearance of fever, fatigue, headaches, shivering, vomiting, etc. Attacks can sometimes become severe, leading to serious anemia, convulsions, coma, and even death. Young children and pregnant women are particularly at risk of developing severe malaria.

The risk of malaria-related complications depends largely on acquired immunity to the disease, which develops as a result of repeated bites from infected mosquitoes. This type of immunity builds up over several years and requires repeated exposure to be maintained. As a result, persons with little or no acquired immunity to malaria are especially at risk of complications. They include young children, pregnant women and travelers from countries where malaria is not present.  

Treatment

Treatment of non-complicated malaria is these days based on a combination of drugs, which always include an artemisinin-derivative and another antimalarial medicine (Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy, ACT) (Source: Guidelines OMS, 2006). 
Severe (or complicated) malaria is mainly treated with quinine injections.  

Epidemiology

Malaria is considered by the WHO to be a global health emergency, like HIV or tuberculosis.
Malaria is the most widespread transmissible disease, affecting most tropical and sub-tropical countries of sub-Saharan Africa, South and South-East Asia, and certain parts of South America. An estimated one-third of the world's population lives in malaria-affected areas. Every year approximately 500 million people will suffer an attack of malaria, and 1 to 2 million people will die from it. More than half of the deaths will be children under the age of five.  

Impact

Social Impact

Malaria fuels poverty because of the expenses and losses that it entails (in many sub-Saharan African countries, malaria is the largest single health expenditure item) and because of its impact on sufferers' ability to work and receive an education. 
The economic costs of malaria in sub-Saharan countries are estimated to be US$ 12 billion per year.  

Sanofi-aventis and malaria

Sanofi-aventis has been present in Africa for decades, and, more extensively, in countries affected by malaria, thanks to its affiliates, offices and manufacturing facilities. Our portfolio of products contains several antimalarial drugs, including certain medicines that helped lay the foundations of treatments for the disease (quinine, chloroquine, amodiaquine), more recently artesunate and artemether, and today the artesunate-amodiaquine combination. In July 2001, the Impact Malaria initiative, the first program from the "Access to Medicines" team, was created. It aims to mobilize the company's expertise and resources to join the fight against malaria by continuing to develop the Group's experience and knowledge about malaria treatments. 
The Impact Malaria Program benefits from all the Group’s resources (clinical development, Regulatory Affairs, Medical Affairs, Marketing, Communication and Commercial Operations).  

• Download the sanofi-aventis Access to Medicines brochure (new window, PDF, 8.1 Mb)
• Download the sanofi-aventis Annual Review 2007 (new window, PDF, 3.3 Mb)
• Download the Sustainability Report 2007 (new window, PDF, 2.6 Mb)
• Go to the Impact Malaria website
• Go to the Malaria's section on the WHO website
• Go to the Malaria's section on the Institut Pasteur website (in French)
• Go to the Malaria's section on the C.D.C website (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)