Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria - 2012-2013

This project contributes to saving lives by making high quality effective malaria medicine readily available to patients. The project supports the Affordable Medicine Facility for malaria (AMFm) managed by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria. The AMFm is designed to make ACTs (artemisinin-based combination therapies) more affordable and accessible for those who need them most. ACTs are the most effective treatment for malaria. By making this treatment more affordable the AMFm also aims to reduce the use of less effective treatments. To reduce the cost of ACT treatments for patients the AMFm negotiates with drug manufacturers to reduce the price of ACTs and provides a subsidy for first-line buyers. The AMFm also provides funding to participating countries to support activities that promote safe and proper use of ACTs. These activities include training and supervision for health workers and public awareness campaigns about the effectiveness of ACTs. They also include special efforts to ensure that ACT treatments reach vulnerable populations such as children and poor people. The AMFm operates in Ghana Kenya Madagascar Niger Nigeria Tanzania (including Zanzibar) Uganda and Cambodia.

Through the support of CIDA and other international donors the expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: an estimated 43 000 lives saved in 2013; access to quality-assured ACTs (artemisinin-based combination therapies) in targeted countries is maintained; and global ACT and active pharmaceutical ingredient markets are not destabilized.