Use of Combination Therapy in Malaria Treatment and Prevention in Indonesia

Abstract

Malaria is still a health problem in Indonesia. Treatment of malaria often encounters obstacles. Resistance to various malaria drugs in some areas causes an increase in morbidity and mortality due to malaria. Rational use of malaria drugs that are still effective and available is important. Therefore, this article will review the use of combination therapy in the treatment of malaria in Indonesia. The purpose of using combination therapy is to increase the efficacy of treatment and slow down the occurrence of resistance to each component in the drug. From this article, it can be concluded that artemisinin-based combinations using artemisinin derivatives are still effective for use as combination therapy against malaria. This combination can be a fixed combination or co-administered. The drugs that can be combined are 4-aminoquinoline, antifolate, 4-quinoline-methanol, artemisinin and its derivatives, antibiotics, and atovaquone-proguanil. It is hoped that the combination of these drugs can still be used for a long period of time, remain safe, effective and affordable by the community.