Herb offers malaria treatment hope
The World Health Organization estimates malaria affects 300m people a year across the world.
Professor Nick White, who runs the Wellcome Trust's south-east Asia unit, told BBC News Online how rates of malaria were reduced by 90% - using a drug made from a Chinese herb.
The community of 120,000 displaced Burmese, living in camps on the north-west border of Thailand have many battles to fight.
In the past, malaria was one of those. The drugs which doctors would normally use were failing because the type of malaria prevalent in the camps was resistant to them.
But Professor Nick White, along with other doctors, heard about a drug used in China to treat malaria called quinghaosu.
Quinghaosu, or artemisinin - also known as sweet wormwood - provides a possible solution to the ever growing problem of salic falicparum - drug resistant malaria.
Professor White, who has worked in south-east Asia for over 20 years, says the discovery provides a new weapon in the drugs arsenal against malaria.
In total, around 25,000 people have been involved in trials in Thailand and Africa.
Source BBC News
Professor Nick White, who runs the Wellcome Trust's south-east Asia unit, told BBC News Online how rates of malaria were reduced by 90% - using a drug made from a Chinese herb.
The community of 120,000 displaced Burmese, living in camps on the north-west border of Thailand have many battles to fight.
In the past, malaria was one of those. The drugs which doctors would normally use were failing because the type of malaria prevalent in the camps was resistant to them.
But Professor Nick White, along with other doctors, heard about a drug used in China to treat malaria called quinghaosu.
Quinghaosu, or artemisinin - also known as sweet wormwood - provides a possible solution to the ever growing problem of salic falicparum - drug resistant malaria.
Professor White, who has worked in south-east Asia for over 20 years, says the discovery provides a new weapon in the drugs arsenal against malaria.
In total, around 25,000 people have been involved in trials in Thailand and Africa.
Source BBC News
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