Molecular assessment of resistance markers for antimalarial drugs in Tanzania

Antimalarial drug resistance is one of the biggest threats to the treatment and control of malaria, with resistance now confirmed to all currently available antimalarials although critically resistance to the most pivotal artemisinins has not yet reached Africa but it currently confined to the Greater Mekong Subregion. New approaches, knowledge and skills-sharing are urgently needed to advance malaria control in Tanzania. One important way to track drug resistance and guide treatment policy is through genotyping polymorphisms in the parasite DNA that are associated with resistance to particular antimalarials. Therefore the current study aims to conduct a molecular surveillance to assess resistant molecular markers associated with Artemisinin-based combination therapies which are commonly used as first line antimalarial treatment in Tanzania.