Antimalarial drug combination chemotherapy in malaria case management in Tanzania: how did it come about?

Malaria is a major public health and socioeconomic problem in sub-Saharan Africa including Tanzania. Every year about one million deaths result as a direct consequence of infection with Plasmodium falciparum. In Tanzania the malaria situation is worsening every year, as malaria-related morbidity and mortality is increasing. This situation has been worsened by the development and widespread of Plasmodium falciparum resistance to chloroquine (CQ) and followed by loss of efficacy due to development of resistance against sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP). Hence, this has severely compromised effective treatment and malaria control programs in most sub-Saharan countries including Tanzania. The aim is to review various literatures using google, medline/PubMed search and publications on the drawbacks that have led to most sub-Saharan countries, including Tanzania, phasing out both CQ and SP, which were effective and cheap/affordable first-line drugs for clinical management of uncomplicated malaria. However, despite...