Effective malaria treatment still out of reach
International staff: 16
National staff: 80
|
|
The neglect of the Nigerian health care system has left the
population vulnerable to medical crises and epidemics. MSF
focuses its work on treating malaria, the main killer of children
under five in Nigeria, and expects to launch an
HIV/AIDS program in the near future.
MSF's malaria program continues in Bayelsa state in the
Niger Delta. Accurate diagnosis and effective treatment
are the goals of this project, but successful treatment is
increasingly hampered by high levels of parasite resistance
to the most commonly used medicines, chloroquine and
sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP). In Southern Ijaw, in
Bayelsa, MSF resistance studies involving these front-line
malaria treatments have shown 40% resistance to chloroquine
and 45% resistance to SP; an amodiaquine resistance
study was ongoing in mid-2002. Other effective options
exist, including treatment with combination therapy
using artemisinin derivatives; however, as of July 2002, the
Bayelsa state Ministry of Health had not yet granted MSF
permission to introduce the therapy.
Attempts to reach female sex workers in Lagos state with
a new HIV/AIDS project were unsuccessful in late 2001, leading
to a reevaluation of HIV-related needs. Plans are underway
for a project focusing on HIV-positive patients who are
also suffering from tuberculosis.
MSF has been working in Nigeria since 1999.
|
