Tu Youyou's team resolves artemisinin resistance in malaria treatment

Tu Touyou, a scientist born and raised in Ningbo, Zhejiang province [Photo/VCG]

Nobel Laureate Tu Youyou announced on June 17 that her team has proposed solutions to the problem of artemisinin resistance, giving new proofs that artemisinin is still "the best weapon" against malaria, the world's No 1 insect-borne infectious disease.

Born and raised in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, Tu Youyou is best known for her discovery of artemisinin, or qinghaosu, used for the treatment of malaria. She shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this discovery in 2015, making her the first Chinese female to be honored as a Nobel laureate.

Upon winning the 2015 Nobel Prize for the discovery of artemisinin, Tu said that the drug resistance has remained a big challenge to anti-malaria workers.