Abstract

John Ibekwe

In early May, 2009, the World Health Organization gave another health warning. This time, it has nothing to do with the pandemic influenza; rather it is about the old enemy “Malaria”. The World Health Organization had announced that malaria resistance to the front line drug Artemisinin had been noticed at Southeast Asia and specifically at the Thai-Cambodian border. The Thai-Cambodian border has been associated in the past with malaria resistance to Chloroquine and later to Fansidar. In order to contain this resistance, WHO has received $22.5 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This will be devoted to finding ways to hold back the spread of resistance to the key anti-malarial drug artemisinin.