Importance of the long-acting partner drug in artemisinin-based combination therapy.

The 1st African Health Research Organization International Malaria Symposium on Clinical Pharmacology of Antimalarial Drugs collected approximately 60 health professionals, scientists, policy makers and nongovernmental organization representatives from Africa, Europe and the USA for updates on recent developments in malaria therapy. It was the first African Health Research Organization symposium in Africa aimed at taking an African leadership in the fight against malaria. The intention is to start a tradition of annually recurring symposia that will eventually grow to become a leading international event in malaria research. Apart from scientific presentations, substantial time was dedicated to discussions and brainstorming, with a view to developing tools that can realistically be used to address challenges relating to all aspects of malaria treatment and control. The meeting was funded partly by the Medicines for Malaria Venture and Dafra Pharma International Ltd., Belgium, both of which were represented by some of the speakers.