What is the best treatment against malaria?
Why combine drugs? A: Malaria is caused by parasites. In most parts of the world, Plasmodium falciparum, the most lethal type of human malaria, has become resistant to conventional treatment. This is the use of a single drug (or monotherapy) of chloroquine, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, or another antimalarial medicine to fight malaria. WHO recommends that countries use a combination of antimalarial medicines to reduce the risk of drug resistance. WHO recommends combinations that contain by-products of artemisinin — a substance extracted from the plant Artemisia annua — along with another effective antimalarial drug. These combinations are called artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). ACTs are currently the most effective treatment for malaria, with a 95% cure rate against falciparum malaria. Over the past five years, ACTs have been deployed on an increasingly large scale. ACTs produce a rapid clinical cure and are well tolerated by patients. In addition, ACTs have the potential
