Strathmore University scientists have issued a stark warning about rapidly increasing malaria drug resistance in western Kenya, suggesting the parasite is evolving faster than current treatments can manage.

• Plasmodium falciparum parasites show **near-total prevalence** of genetic markers linked to resistance against older antimalarial drugs (some recorded at 100 percent) across study sites.
• Researchers led by Dr. Andrew Omandi Cole and Prof. Gilbert Kokwaro from Strathmore University, in collaboration with KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Kilifi and the National Malaria Control Programme, conducted the study between September 2020 and January 2024.
• Early signs of reduced sensitivity to artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), the current frontline treatment, have been detected, mirroring patterns that led to widespread treatment failures in Southeast Asia.