Study finds Africans get substandard malaria drugs

“Substandard drugs not only endanger lives today, but also jeopardize future malaria treatment strategies by accelerating parasite resistance.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many Africans are getting substandard malaria drugs, with more than a third of the pills tested failing quality tests, according to a report published on Tuesday.

Tests of 195 different packs of malaria drugs sold in six African cities showed 35 percent of them either did not contain high enough levels of active ingredient or did not dissolve properly.

"Our study shows that efforts to increase access to quality antimalarial drugs in Africa are increasingly important," Dr. Roger Bate of the American Enterprise Institute, who led the study, said in a statement. Read more