New malaria drug for babies offers hope to health workers in Uganda

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Alice Nekesa did not know she was infected with malaria-causing parasites until it was too late. She was in the fourth month of pregnancy last year when she started bleeding, a miscarriage later attributed to untreated malaria in her.

The Ugandan farmer said recently that she regretted the loss of what would have been her second child “because I didn’t discover malaria and treat it early.”

Variations of such cases are commonly reported by Ugandan health workers who witness stillbirths or feverish babies that die within days from undiagnosed malaria. The deaths are part of a wider death toll tied to the mosquito-borne disease, the deadliest across Africa, but one easily treated in adults who seek timely medical care.

Until recently, a major gap in malaria treatment was how to care for newborns and infants infected with malaria who weren’t strong enough to receive regular medication. That changed last month when Swiss medical regulators approved medicine from the Basel-based pharmaceutical company Novartis for babies weighing between 2 and 5 kilograms (nearly 4½ to 11 pounds).

Swissmedic said the treatment, a sweet-tasting tablet that disperses into a syrup when dropped into water, was approved in coordination with the World Health Organization under a fast-track authorization process to help developing countries access much-needed treatment.

Africa’s 1.5 billion people accounted for 95% of an estimated 597,000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2023, according to the WHO. More than three-quarters of those deaths were among children.

In Uganda, an east African country of 45 million people, there were 12.6 million malaria cases and nearly 16,000 deaths in 2023. Many were children younger than 5 and pregnant women, according to WHO.

Nigeria, Congo and Uganda — in that order — are the African countries most burdened by malaria, a parasitic disease transmitted to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes that thrive and breed in stagnant water.

The drug approved by Swiss authorities, known as Coartem Baby in some countries and Riamet Baby in others, is a combination of two antimalarials. It is a lower dose version of a tablet previously approved for other age groups, including for older children. Before Coartem Baby, antimalarial drugs designed for older children were administered to small infants with careful adjustments to avoid overdose or toxicity.

Ugandan authorities, who have been working to update clinical guidelines for treating malaria, say the new drug will be rolled out as soon as possible. It is not yet available in public hospitals.

The development of Coartem Baby has given hope to many, with local health workers and others saying the medicine will save the lives of many infants.

Ronald Serufusa, the top malaria official for the district of Wakiso, which shares a border with the Ugandan capital of Kampala, said he believes Coartem Baby will be available “very, very soon” and that one priority is sensitizing the people adhering to treatment.

Some private pharmacies already have access to Coartem Baby, “flavored with orange or mango” to make it palatable for infants, he said.

During the so-called malaria season, which coincides with rainy periods twice a year, long lines of sick patients grow outside government-run health centers across Uganda. Many are often women with babies strapped to their backs.

Health workers now are trained to understand that “malaria can be implicated among newborns,” even when other dangerous conditions like sepsis are present, Serufusa said.

“If they don’t expand their investigations to also suspect malaria, then it goes unnoticed,” he said, speaking of health workers treating babies.

The Malaria Consortium, a global nonprofit based in London, in a statement described the approval of Coartem Baby as “a major leap forward for saving the lives of young children in countries affected by malaria.”

In addition to Uganda, the drug will be rolled out in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Tanzania, the group said.

Jane Nabakooza, a pediatrician with Uganda's malaria control program, said she expects the government will make Coartem Baby available to patients free of charge, even after losing funding when the U.S. shrank its foreign aid program earlier this year.

Some malaria funding from outside sources, including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, remains available for programs such as indoor spraying to kill mosquitoes that spread the malaria-causing parasite.

Because of funding shortages, “we are focusing on those that are actually prone to severe forms of malaria and malaria deaths, and these are children under 5 years,” she said.

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

A health worker talks to patients at Wakiso Health Centre IV in Kampala, Wakiso, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Onen)

A woman breastfeeds her newborn at Wakiso Health Centre IV in Wakiso, Uganda, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Onen)

Pregnant women in labor wait for delivery at Wakiso Health Centre IV in Kampala, Uganda, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Onen)

A child receives a vaccine shot at Wakiso Health Centre IV in Wakiso, Uganda, Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Onen)

Alice Nekesa, 28, a mother of one who contracted malaria during her second pregnancy, poses for a photo in her home in Kampala, Uganda, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Onen)

NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Weathers was steamed when he found out he was joining the New York Yankees.

“I had had just finished up my bullpen and I get back to the house — I have like a little travel sauna,” he recalled Thursday. “I literally probably had sat on my couch for about two seconds and I got a phone call from Peter Bendix that I had been traded.”

Bendix, Miami's president of baseball operations, sent the 26-year-old left-hander to New York for four prospects on Tuesday: outfielders Brendan Jones and Dillon Lewis, and infielders Dylan Jasso and Juan Matheus.

Weathers is the son of David Weathers, a pitcher who helped the Yankees win the 1996 World Series after he was acquired from the Marlins at the trade deadline.

“We’ve kind of had a weird, similar paths as to how we got to New York,” Ryan Weathers said.

David was in the Dodger Stadium bullpen when he found out two minutes before the trade deadline he had been dealt to the Yankees. Manager Rene Lachemann called him on the bullpen phone and said Weathers needed to speak with general manager Dave Dombrowski.

“I went in the locker room and Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, John Burkett, Robb Nen, they said, `Hey man, good luck. You're going to win a World Series ring,' and they turned out to be prophetic,” David Weathers said.

David learned his son had been traded while watching a basketball game with wife Kelli at Loretto High School in Loretto, Tennessee, where he has coached baseball.

“One of my friends came up and said, `I think Ryan’s been traded to the Yankees.' And I said: `Well, if he has, I hadn’t heard anything about it,'" David recalled. "We laughed, and about that time my phone started ringing. It was Ryan.”

When Ryan makes his Yankees debut, they will become the fifth father-son duo for the pinstripes, joining Yogi and Dale Berra, Clay and Cody Bellinger, Mark Leiter and Mark Leiter Jr., and Ron Davis and Ike Davis.

Ryan was in shock when he spoke with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone.

“I just couldn’t believe that the New York Yankees were a team that I could ever have a chance to play for," he said.

New York’s rotation at the season's start projects to also include Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Luis Gil while Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón rehab from injuries.

Weathers, 26, was 2-2 with a 3.99 ERA in eight starts last year in his second straight injury-shortened season. He missed time with a strained left flexor, made his season debut on May 14, then didn’t pitch for Miami between June 7 and Sept. 11 because of a left lat strain.

He was 5-6 with a 3.63 ERA over 16 starts in 2024, when he was sidelined by a strained left index finger.

“This is the best I’ve probably felt in a year-and-a-half,” Weathers said. “I really did a dive and worked with company on figuring out how to lengthen my lat out, lengthen my back out. We really adjusted a lot of my lifting patterns. We really adjusted my mobility and my prep work, and I think my arm is reaping the benefits right now.”

Ryan grew up in big league clubhouses and remembered the Cincinnati Reds' room with Ken Griffey Jr. and Joey Votto. He played pickle with Dusty Baker, Ramón Hernández, Eric Milton and Juan Castro.

“There’s been a lot of hours put in the Cincinnati Reds' batting cages,” Weathers said. “I just remember Pops taking me to the field every day. I know when his arm was hurting, he’d still throw me BP.”

Ryan was the seventh overall pick by San Diego in the 2008 amateur draft and made his first big league appearance against the Dodgers in the 2020 NL Division Series — among only six players to make a major league debut in the postseason. His dad's knowledge helped him during tough times.

“When I first started going through it and getting adversity and getting traded, he really helped me along those lines of figuring out: This is what you do with your new team. This was what you do in your day-to-day,” Ryan said. “So I’ve been doing mechanics since I was age 10.”

He has remained close with pitcher Aaron Harang, a teammate of his father who last played in 2015.

“He still texts me all the time,” Weathers said. “When I was younger, I didn’t really care about pitching. I just wanted to hit bombs in the outfield, so I didn’t really think about it.”

For David, pitching in the World Series was less nerve-racking than being in the seats at Ryan's games.

“It’s way tougher being a dad and watching your son pitch than being a pitcher,” David said. “When he pitches, man, it is just like all day, it’s like I’m pitching. I’m thinking about what I would do, how I would attack these guys.”

Notes: New York finalized its $2 million, one-year contract with right-hander Paul Blackburn.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

FILE - Miami Marlins starting pitcher Ryan Weathers throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sept. 24, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson, File)