RESUMEN
Artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) are the WHO-recommended first-line therapies for uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The emergence and spread of artemisinin-resistant genotypes is a major global public health concern due to the increased rate of treatment failures that result. This is particularly germane for WHO designated 'high burden to high impact' (HBHI) countries, such as Burkina Faso, where there is increased emphasis on improving guidance, strategy, and coordination of local malaria response in an effort to reduce the prevalence of P. falciparum malaria. To explore how the increased adoption of ACTs may affect the HBHI malaria setting of Burkina Faso, we added spatial structure to a validated individual-based stochastic model of P. falciparum transmission and evaluated the long-term effects of increased ACT use. We explored how de novo emergence of artemisinin-resistant genotypes, such as pfkelch13 580Y, may occur under scenarios in which private-market drugs are eliminated or multiple first-line therapies (MFT) are deployed. We found that elimination of private market drugs would result in lower treatment failures rates (between 11.98% and 12.90%) when compared to the status quo (13.11%). However, scenarios incorporating MFT with equal deployment of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PPQ) may accelerate near-term drug resistance (580Y frequency ranging between 0.62 to 0.84 in model year 2038) and treatment failure rates (26.69% to 34.00% in 2038), due to early failure and substantially reduced treatment efficacy resulting from piperaquine-resistant genotypes. A rebalanced MFT approach (90% AL, 10% DHA-PPQ) results in approximately equal long-term outcomes to using AL alone but may be difficult to implement in practice.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Despite the well-documented clinical efficacy of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) against malaria, the population-level effects of ACT have not been studied thoroughly until recently. An ideal case study for these population-level effects can be found in Vietnam's gradual adoption of artemisinin in the 1990s. METHODS AND RESULTS: Analysis of Vietnam's national annual malaria reports (1991-2014) revealed that a 10% increase in artemisinin procurement corresponded to a 32.8% (95% CI 27.7-37.5%) decline in estimated malaria cases. There was no consistent national or regional effect of vector control on malaria. The association between urbanization and malaria was generally negative and sometimes statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The decline of malaria in Vietnam can largely be attributed to the adoption of artemisinin-based case management. Recent analyses from Africa showed that insecticide-treated nets had the greatest effect on lowering malaria prevalence, suggesting that the success of interventions is region-specific. Continuing malaria elimination efforts should focus on both vector control and increased access to ACT.