WHO refutes malaria malpractice allegations

Bulletin of the World Health Organization, March, 2004

WHO's Roll Back Malaria department has refuted allegations by an international group of 13 malaria researchers accusing WHO and the Global Fund to Fight, AIDS, Turberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) of failing to promote available and effective malaria treatment in favour of ineffective but less-expensive drugs.

In a commentary published in the UK-based medical journal, the Lancet (2004;363:237-40), the critics led by Amir Attaran from London's Royal Institute of International Affairs, accuse the two agencies of blocking the introduction of highly effective artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) whilst continuing to approve grants for the conventional chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in countries where these treatments are failing.

"For WHO and...