Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s medicines regulatory authority announced the arrest of three individuals suspected of involvement in the diversion of antimalarials from the central warehouse in Machava, Maputo, equivalent to more than 830,000 treatments.
“The quantities of diverted medicine are equivalent to 837,990 treatments, valued at 42,150,897 meticais [€562,000],” states a note from the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (Anarme), consulted today by Lusa.
Anarme, in coordination with the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) of Mozambique, detected the disappearance on Wednesday of five pallets of the medicine, “related to the 4×6 formulation of antimalarials [artemether+lumefantrine], during the process of national distribution of the drugs,” reads the note.
According to Anarme, three people were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the diversion of antimalarials at the central medicines warehouse in Machava, and investigations are ongoing to clarify “all the facts and determine the degree of involvement of each employee.”
“Anarme appeals to society to report any suspicion of medicine diversion, for the swift clarification of this and other cases, in the interest of protecting and promoting public health,” the authority concludes.
On Wednesday, former Mozambican Minister of Health Ivo Garrido criticised the stagnation in malaria prevalence and incidence rates in Mozambique, pointing to failures in disease prevention.
“We are failing especially in prevention. (…) Certain maps showing the evolution of malaria prevalence and incidence over decades were presented here, and what we observe is that sometimes it drops a little, but the trend is practically stagnation,” said Ivo Garrido during the Annual Malaria Forum in Nampula, also in northern Mozambique.
According to the former Minister of Health (2005–2010), malaria incidence and prevalence “have practically not changed” in Mozambique since independence was declared in 1975, despite the country’s efforts to curb the disease.
Mozambique’s Ministry of Health stated last week that the country recorded around 10.3 million malaria cases between January and September, compared to nine million in the same period last year, a 14% increase in new cases.
In 2024, at least 358 people died from the disease in this African country, which registered over 11.5 million cases and about 67,000 hospitalisations, announced the Mozambican President on 25 April, on the occasion of World Malaria Day, calling for greater protection for children.
The malaria vaccine R21/Matrix-M, the second vaccine for children, developed by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, is already in use in Mozambique, following the recommendations of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and the Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG).
