Brazil announces new malaria treatment

Scientists in Brazil have announced a new malaria treatment which they claim offers a cheap and effective way of combating the disease.

The treatment is being developed by the countries state-run drug maker and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative. It combines existing malaria drugs into a single, fixed-dose tablet.

Jean Rene Kiechel, the project's manager, told Reuters the medicine would be cheaper and more effective than existing therapies. He estimated it could treat between two and three million patients over the next three years

The fixed-dose combination will be made available to children and adults throughout Latin America and south-east Asia over the next two years. The new treatment will cost $2.50 (£1.25), and Mr Kiechel claims it "will be much better in terms of cost".

Figures from the World Health Organisation estimate that 40 per cent of the world's population, mostly living in the poorest countries, are at risk of malaria. It says more than one million people die from the disease every year.