Trends of Antimalarial Resistance in Ethiopia and its Challenge on Malaria Control Program

Abstract

Antimalarial drugs resistance is one of the major obstacles for malaria control and curtails the life-span of several drugs. Resistance to well tolerated and effective antimalarial drugs such chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) has forced the switch of national policies to artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for the treatment of falciparum malaria. The emergence of less sensitive clones of Plasmodium falciparum to the ACT drugs, shortly after its deployment, has posed a threat to the global malaria control programs. Thus, it is essential to monitor the efficacy of antimalarial drugs periodically for early detection of changing patterns of the parasites susceptibility profile. Ethiopia is one of the countries most affected by malaria; and thus, known for intensive deployment of antimalarials which is one of the drivers for the development of parasites resistance to antimalarial drugs. Although limited in number, recent reports indicate that there is an increasing trend of parasites resistance to the first-line antimalarial drugs. This review, therefore, aims to summarize the available literature on malaria drug resistance patterns in the country.

Keywords: Malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, antimalarial drug resistance, Chloroquine, Artemether-Lumefantrine

Cite this Article

Tekalign Deressa. Trends of antimalarial resistance in Ethiopia and its challenge on Malaria control program. Research & Reviews: Journal of Medicine.2016; 6(1): 38–44p.