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South Africa’s health department warns against use of Ivermectin for Covid-19
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The Department of Health has discouraged the use of Ivermectin for management of Covid-19, until the study on its efficacy and safety is concluded.
In a statement on Thursday, department spokesperson Popo Maja said that the National Essential Medicines List Committee (NEMLC) Covid-19 Sub-Committee has carefully considered all available evidence on the treatment or prevention of Covid-19 with Ivermectin.
“Currently, there is insufficient evidence to recommend Ivermectin for the treatment or prevention of Covid-19. Some studies have suggested that Ivermectin may be of benefit of management of Covid-19, however the evidence that is currently available is preliminary and of low quality,” Maja said.
Insufficient evidence to use ivermectin to treat Covid-19, says medicine committee Citizen reporter The committee discouraged the use of ivermectin outside of well-conducted randomised controlled trials.
The National Essential Medicines List Committee (NEMLC) Covid-19 Sub-Committee says there is insufficient evidence to recommend the use of Ivermectin to treat the virus.
Sahpra is yet to publish the guidelines for its use.
In a statement on Thursday, the NEMLC Sub-Committee noted that studies suggested that ivermectin might be of benefit in terms of management of Covid-19, however, it argued that the available evidence is “preliminary and of low quality”.
“The studies vary widely in terms of disease severity of participants, medicines with which ivermectin was compared and additional medicines that part
We know that Maverick Citizen respects and protects the crucial role of the South Africa Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) in ensuring efficacy and safety of medicines. However, where the need is urgent and immediate, we also think that public debate of the evidence on which its decisions are based is also important. The use of Ivermectin is a case in point.
Here, a frontline intensive care doctor explains why he thinks there are strong medical grounds to make ivermectin available for compassionate use.
Between 21 December 2020 and 9 January 2021 South Africa recorded a further 8,100 deaths from Covid-19 and a total of 292,260 new cases. This means we have had: an average of 13,917 new cases daily and an average of 386 deaths per day.
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