Over 90% of the world’s malaria attributable mortality is in Africa, and severe malaria is one of the main causes of death in African children under 5 years old. In the last decade, malaria transmission has been reduced significantly in many African countries, but annual mortality in 2012 was still 627,000 (World Malaria Report 2012). Proper management of children with severe falciparum malaria thus remains of utmost importance, in particular for Sub-Saharan Africa.

GUILIN PHARMA, innovator and producer of Artesunate for injection (Artesun), is dedicated to contribute to the fight against malaria, and considers this as one of the company’s social responsibilities. In addition to providing high quality artesunate for injection (Artesun) for the treatment of severe malaria, GUILIN PHARMA is trying to contribute through the provision of free Continuous Medical Education supporting African healthcare practitioners.

For this purpose, GUILIN PHARMA has launched this year an innovative live long-distance interactive training program called the “eCME project”. The first conference of this training program was held on 21st May 2014. The live-broadcasted medical lecture on Management of Severe Malaria was presented from Shanghai by Prof. Arjen M. Dondorp, a world-renowned malaria expert. This video conference was the first live medical conference attended simultaneously by 6 African Countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Ghana), reaching more than 190 participants.

Prof. Dondorp was the lead author on 2 large clinical trials in severe malaria, SEAQUAMAT in Asian adults and AQUAMAT in African children, showing the clear superiority of artesunate inj. over quinine in saving lives. The 2 hour lecture included a wide variety of topics beyond the antimalarial treatment of severe malaria, including pathophysiology, diagnosis, management of complications, and supportive care. After the lecture, there was a well appreciated interactive Q&A session, during which the participants could discuss a number of additional important treatment aspects of this life threatening disease. To guarantee objectivity, Prof. Dondorp was not remunerated for his contribution, and his views were independent from our company’s.

We can conclude that this first eCME live long-distance conference was a clear success and well appreciated by the attendees in all 6 African countries. The next session of this project will be eagerly awaited.

Some comments after the 1st session
Prof. Arjen M. Dondorp (presenter):“It has been my pleasure to be invited to give a lecture on severe malaria management to my African colleagues through this web conference. I am glad that I can share my experience on case management and provide the latest research updates to those who are fighting the disease in everyday life. Parenteral artesunate has been clearly a big step forward in the antimalarial therapy of severe malaria. Uptake and implementation in African countries is obviously important, and can potentially save the lives of hundreds of thousands of African children. I hope this lecture will contribute to accelerate this. ”
Dr. Fabrizio (project manager of the National Malaria Control Program Tanzania): “This is one of the first online medical training programs for African countries. Guilin Pharma is the No. 1 and the only pharmaceutical company that has set up this kind of eCME program. Thank you very much for providing this high quality academic lecture, which brought us an ideal opportunity to communicate with a world’s top scientist like Prof. Dondorp. Keep working and we are looking forward to joining such events in the near future.”

About Prof. Arjen M. Dondorp
Prof. Dondorp is an infectious diseases and intensive care physician who trained in The Netherlands. He is Professor of Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford, UK, Visiting Professor at Mahidol University, Thailand, and Deputy Director of the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in Bangkok, Thailand. This research unit has been central in generating evidence for the treatment of both uncomplicated and severe malaria. Their research output has informed importantly the WHO-guidelines on malaria treatment.

About the“eCME” project
The eCME project is a new interactive long-distance medical training program founded by GUILIN PHARMA. For the company it is the major academic activity for the year 2014. The eCME objective is to overcome geographical restrictions by building an interactive communication platform between healthcare practitioners in African countries and world experts from all over the globe, in order to improve the management of tropical diseases, in particular malaria. The eCME project will aim at organizing a new episode every 3 months. All lectures will be transformed into a podcast within about a month after its live broadcast, which can then be downloaded for free by healthcare practitioners everywhere in the world.