Abstract

There is an alarming rise in treatment failures from artemisinin combination therapy (ACT). The aim of this study was to access the therapeutic effectiveness of ACT in the market and the rate of re-occurrence of malaria shortly after completion of therapy. The rate of adherence to therapy and relapse rate of four hundred volunteers, who recently treated malaria, were assessed using quantitative interview-semi structured questionnaire. Adherence levels were 56.0% while relapse rate was 47.0%. The rate of relapse among volunteers who adhered to therapy was 40.63%. While encouraging continuous quality assessment of artemisinin combination drugs, it is equally important for public health practitioners and institutions to design deliberate programs to enlighten the public on the importance of adherence to therapy as this rather than quality of medicines may be contributing largely to drug resistance.

Key words: Artemisinin combination therapy, malaria, quality assessment.