Nature examines future of AMFm

"Although no official decision has been announced about whether to continue the ... Affordable Medicines Facility-Malaria (AMFm), many of those familiar with it have told Nature that it must change or be phased out after this year," the magazine reports in an article examining the future of the pilot program that distributes malaria drugs in seven African countries. "The AMFm aims to make artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) readily available and affordable in malaria-ridden countries by relying on the free market for their distribution," but "it is unclear how many of the drugs reached the pilot program's target populations," Nature writes. The magazine describes possible options for the program, and notes the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will recommend a future path for the program at its meeting next month (Maxmen, 10/2).