Antimalarial drug resistance has emerged as a leading threat to ongoing malaria control efforts. As resistance to one or more antimalarial drugs occurs more frequently, malaria control programmes and other concerned institutions need to be able to evaluate antimalarial drug efficacy in a way that provides timely, relevant, reliable, and understandable information.
AimThe objectives of this consultation were:
• to review and update the existing WHO protocols for assessing the therapeutic efficacy of drugs for treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in areas with intense transmission and in areas with low to moderate transmission (which exist only in draft form);
• to review the draft guidelines for assessing the therapeutic efficacy of chloroquine against P. vivax;
• to review the potential role of in vitro tests and current molecular methods for detecting markers of resistance in the surveillance of resistance to antimalarial drugs; and
• to define the technical and operational elements needed for strengthening surveillance of drug resistance of both falciparum and vivax malaria at the country level.
World Health Organization
Disease Category: Infectious disease
Disease Name: Malaria
Age Range: Unknown
Sex: Either
Nature of Intervention: Other
- Clinical experts
- Epidemiologists
- Researchers
- Statisticians
- Recommendations made
- Semi structured discussion
The protocol presented here is an attempt to reconcile existing protocols and produce a single, globally standardized protocol. Additionally, some methodological
problems that became apparent while the 1996 protocol was in use have been corrected. Modifications to the 1996 protocol were discussed and agreed
upon during an informal consultation in Geneva in 2001. (see related study)