Rural malaria blood testings to become easier as WHO approves more rapid diagnostic tests to aid malaria fight

Blood tests for malaria diagnosis are going to be much more convenient in India and other parts of the world where malaria is more endemic.

The World Health Organisation has added 16 more malaria diagnostic tests to its approved list.

The Malaria Product Testing Evaluation Programme just completed a new assessment of the performance of 29 rapid diagnostic tests and found that 15 of them met minimum performance criteria set by WHO.

“These rapid tests have been a major breakthrough in malaria control,” said Dr Robert Newman, director of WHO’s Global Malaria Programme.

These new tests will allow to test people who cannot access diagnosis based on microscopy in remote, rural areas where the majority of malaria occurs, he added in a statement issued by WHO.

In 2008, just 22% of suspected malaria cases were tested in 18 of 35 African countries reporting.

Universal diagnosis would enable health workers to identify which patients with fever have malaria and need life-saving antimalarial drugs, and which have other causes of illness and require alternative treatment.

Better diagnosis of the disease will improve overall childhood survival.

Recent malaria treatment guidelines issued by WHO call for diagnosis using either microscopy or the rapid tests before treatment in all cases of suspected malaria.

With 37 tests that now meet minimum performance criteria, malaria-endemic countries and donors have a wider choice of tests which have been assessed for quality and reliability.

The evaluation programme is co-sponsored by the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), WHO Global Malaria Programme (GMP) and the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific. Testing is performed at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) is a global programme of scientific collaboration established in 1975, sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund, United Nations Development Programme, World Bank and World Health Organization, and executed by WHO.

FIND is a non-profit Swiss organization established in 2003, with offices in Uganda and India.

Its mission is to develop, evaluate, demonstrate, and accelerate the roll out of new diagnostic tests and platforms for diseases of poverty, including TB, malaria, and human African trypanosomiasis.

FIND’s approach is to address diagnostic needs across disease areas so that tests can also be implemented at levels of the health care system closer to where patients first seek care. FIND has active collaborations with over 100 partners, including Ministries of Health, bilateral and multilateral organizations, such as WHO, research institutes/academia, commercial partners, and clinical trial sites.

The WHO Global Malaria Programme (GMP), is responsible for malaria surveillance, monitoring and evaluation, policy and strategy formulation, technical assistance, and coordination of WHO’s global efforts to fight malaria. to help health workers quickly identify which patients have the disease and need immediate treatment.

Half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria, and an estimated 243 million cases led to an estimated 863 000 deaths in 2008.

In 2008, just 22% of suspected malaria cases were tested in 18 of 35 African countries reporting. Until now, most clinics had to rely on microscopy, but the recent development of quality-assured Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) using a dip stick and a drop of blood means a policy change is possible.

The move towards universal diagnostic testing of malaria is a critical step forward in the fight against malaria as it will allow for the targeted use of ACTs for those who actually have malaria.

The aim is to reduce the emergence and spread of drug resistance and to help identify patients who have fever, but do not have malaria, so that alternative diagnoses can be made and appropriate treatment provided. Therefore, better management of malaria has a positive impact on management of other childhood illness and overall child survival.

WHO estimates that 80 countries have adopted ACTs for first-line treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria. In the guidelines, WHO emphasizes the importance of treating this deadliest form of the disease with artemisinin-based combination therapies. WHO has now added a fifth ACT – dihydroartemisinin plus piperaquine – to the previous list of recommended medicines.