Last week at MalariaWorld: Too much to handle, podcast, job opportunity, and more...
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Too much to handle
University scientists have to be multi-talented. They have to invent and design new research, write grant proposals, implement research, write it up, publish it, read publications, deliver news-worthy results, present at meetings, and teach students. And as they move up the ladder they have to manage—people, administration, budgets, facilities—as well. I count at least 6 professions: designer, writer, researcher, presenter, teacher and manager. That's quite a lot to ask from one person. And, often, all of this within the structure of a very demanding tenure track system: it's up or out. It sounds like a pressure cooker to me. No wonder that so many scientists suffer from a burn-out. In the world of malaria science it is no different. I wonder how many of you fall asleep and dream of publishing, publishing, publishing... Do you have any idea how many scientific malaria publications are being published? Some 12.500 over the past 5 years! Who can possibly keep up with reading? When I ask malaria professionals how much time they spend reading then the answer is standard "way too little" and "only when I need references". And that's when the new podcast series "The Johns Hopkins Malaria Minute" comes in handy. You can now listen to the latest highlights of impactful malaria research. Check out the first podcast below. Sit back, listen and relax.
Stay healthy, stay safe and enjoy MalariaWorld
Inga
Founder & Senior Editor MalariaWorld
Director Dutch Malaria Foundation
Podcast: Scientists Discover New Targets for Transmission-Blocking Vaccines
Podcast #1 | 17 September 2021: We're used to thinking of vaccines for individual protection. But what about a malaria jab to protect the mosquito? Learn more about transmission-blocking vaccines for malaria, and the parasite proteins that could be used in one.
Partnerships - what MalariaWorld can do for you
At MalariaWorld we work with partners. One of the advantages of partnering with MalariaWorld is that we use our 20+ years of knowledge, skills, and experience as well as our entire MalariaWorld network to get information across to more than 11.000 malaria professionals in 140 countries. How do we do that? Well, sometimes we just partner for a certain event such as with MIM, PAMCA, or the First Malaria World Congress.
New Plasmodium vivax Biology
In 2012, the following remark appeared in the Journal of Travel Medicine (reference 44 in the publication for which the link is provided below):
"Malariologists need to reassess the conventional view that plasmodial habitats in humans are only liver and blood and be more open to the concept of there perhaps being additional parasite reservoirs."
Global health experts share findings from year-long “Rethinking malaria” consultation
World Health Organization, 3 September 2021
In 2017, WHO warned that the global response to malaria had reached a crossroads. After 15 years of success in global malaria control, progress had levelled off, and many countries with a high burden of the disease were losing ground.
Watch the recorded public webinar "Rethinking Malaria in the Context of COVID-19"
Watch below the recording of this webinar. Findings from the year-long "Rethinking Malaria" global consultation will be shared along with lessons learned from elimination countries and discussions related to research perspectives; public policy, political, and advocacy perspectives; and programmatic perspectives.
Watch the MESA Webinar 4 - How to Tackle the Challenge of Insecticide and Drug Resistance with Innovative Approaches
Watch below the recorded webinar "How to Tackle the Challenge of Insecticide and Drug Resistance with Innovative Approaches" with Alfred Amambua-Ngwa and Nathalie Amvongo Adjia, moderated by Abdoulaye Djimdé.
Johns Hopkins Malaria Minute
'Eliminating malaria through science' is the mission of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (JHMRI) at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Comprised of world-class scientists, a community-based research program in malaria-prone regions, and a spirit of interdisciplinary investigation, the institute generates transformative scientific results leading us closer to a malaria-free world.
Artemisia afra, alcohol and tuberculosis
African medical doctors have discovered that infusions of Artemisia afra administered during 20 days definitely and totally cured tuberculosis, even for patients where drugs administred in conformity with the WHO protocol had failed. We quote one of their papers hereafter, but they have run dozens of similar successfull treatments in several countries of the region of the Great Lakes in Africa.
How Pakistan has kept up its fight against malaria amid the Covid-19 pandemic
By APLMA, 16 August 2021
In December 2020, with Pakistan in the grips of the pandemic, 8,000 volunteers in the country’s restive tribal region managed to distribute nearly 1.5 million mosquito nets to more than half a million households in the country’s remote tribal areas without contracting a single known case of COVID-19. How they did it offers a valuable lesson about how health authorities, by collaborating with communities and other stakeholders, can keep new health threats from disrupting the ongoing battle against other life-threatening diseases, including malaria.
Volunteer as a MESA Correspondent to report from the 2021 virtual PAMCA Conference & Exhibition
Are you interested in malaria research? Would you like to improve your writing skills? Would you like to attend the PAMCA Conference for free? Here is your opportunity: volunteer as MESA Correspondent to report from the 2021 virtual PAMCA Conference and Exhibition!
The Dutch Malaria Foundation
MalariaWorld is a project of the Dutch Malaria Foundation, a charitable organisation that supports innovative ways to fight malaria and makes existing knowledge and information about fighting malaria available to stakeholders all over the world.
MESA Webinar 4 - How to Tackle the Challenge of Insecticide and Drug Resistance with Innovative Approaches
A new session of our monthly MESA Webinars: Science for Malaria Impact will be held on September 7 at 2 PM CAT (8 AM EDT, 8 PM SGT).
Malaria control must consider the complex lives of mosquitoes
By Fredros Okumu, 19 August 2021
MOSQUITOES spread diseases to millions of people around the world, yet they remain poorly understood by most. Studying their biology and behaviors can help us combat, and eventually eliminate, dangerous diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.
Watch "Malaria Strategies": a MasterClass with Prof. Marcel Tanner
Watch below the recording of the Masterclass "Malaria Strategies" with Prof. Marcel Tanner
Ifakara MasterClasses in Public Health & Medical Entomology. Episode XXX: Thursday, August 12th 2021
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Volunteer as MESA Correspondent for the MESA Webinars and get your registration for ASTMH annual meeting!
Are you interested in malaria research?
Would you like to improve your writing skills?
And, last but not least, would you like to attend the ASTMH annual meeting for free?
Here is your opportunity: volunteer as MESA Correspondent to report from the last four sessions of the MESA Webinars: Science for Malaria Impact!
Watch "Malaria Meds": a MasterClass with Profs. Timothy Wells, Pierre Hugo, George Jagoe & Abdoulaye Djimde
Watch below the recording of the Masterclass "Malaria Meds" with Profs. Timothy Wells, Pierre Hugo, George Jagoe & Abdoulaye Djimde
Ifakara MasterClasses in Public Health & Medical Entomology. Episode XXIX: Thursday, August 5th 2021.
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Obituary: Prof Richard Hunt 1939 - 2021
By Lizette Koekemoer, Wits Research Institute For Malaria
It is with great sadness that we have to share with you that Prof Richard Hunt passed away on the 18th of June 2021. This is indeed a huge loss for entomology on the African continent and our hearts goes out to Maureen and Tammy for their loss. Richard was one of the true field entomologists of his time and has trained many of us in the past. RiP
Watch "Vectors Asia, Africa & the Americas": a Masterclass with S. Manguin, I. Vythilingam, Y. Rubio Palis, L. Koekemoer
Watch below the recording of the Masterclass "Vectors Asia, Africa & the Americas" with S. Manguin, I. Vythilingam, Y. Rubio Palis, L. Koekemoer
Ifakara MasterClasses in Public Health & Medical Entomology. Episode XXVIII: Thursday, July 8th 2021
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RBM report - Achieving a Double Dividend: The Case for Investing in a Gendered Approach to the Fight Against Malaria
New report spells out double dividend for accelerating ending malaria and advancing gender equality. As patients, caregivers and providers, women and adolescent girls in malaria-endemic countries are leading investors in the malaria fight, yet systemic gender inequalities also cause them to bear the societal, health and economic burdens of the disease.
Hemozoin and Malaria : a love-hate affair
Mutaz Akkawi, Pascal Gisenya, Jérôme Munyangi, Pierre Lutgen
…or the key of malaria transmission.
Already 25 years ago it was known that malaria pigment (hemozoin, Hz, biocrystallized heme) is not an inert material. Crude pigment, as present in infected erythrocytes and shed after schizont rupture, may be considered the 'natural diet' ingested by macrophages in infected blood. Hemozoin is a powerful source of radicals, necrosis factor-alpha, interleukins 1 and 6.
Cross-strain sterile, durable protection against malaria Plasmodium falciparum using chemoattenuated whole sporozoite vaccines
Sanaria® PfSPZ-CVac vaccine protected 100% of six subjects against a genetically distant variant parasite strain for 3 months, the first time that such complete protection has ever been achieved for such a long period. Results set the scene for development of a traveler’s vaccine, seasonal malaria vaccinations and genetically attenuated parasites that do not fully develop in the liver through to early blood stage.
Watch "Malaria Maps and Models: a MasterClass with Profs. S. Bhatt, S. Kiware, L. Tusting & J. Gerardin"
Watch below the recording of the Masterclass "Malaria Maps and Models" with Profs. S. Bhatt, S. Kiware, L. Tusting & J. Gerardin
Ifakara MasterClasses in Public Health Research & Practice. Episode XXVII: Thursday, July 1st 2021
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Sanaria vaccine trial results demonstrate unprecedented progress in worldwide battle against variant malaria parasites
Findings published in Nature offer potential for use by travelers and prevention of malaria in African populations in near future
ROCKVILLE, MD, USA – June 30, 2021 – Researchers from Sanaria® Inc. and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are making progress in the development of highly protective malaria vaccines.
In an article published today in Nature, Sanaria’s PfSPZ-CVac (CQ) vaccine is reported as being safe and protecting 100% of six subjects against a variant malaria parasite three months after their last dose in the company’s Phase 1 safety and efficacy trial. This is the first time complete protection against a variant malaria parasite has ever been achieved that long after vaccine administration.
Volunteer as MESA Correspondent to report from the MESA Webinars: Science for Malaria Impact
The Malaria Eradication Scientific Alliance (MESA) is seeking volunteers as MESA Correspondents to report from the online MESA Webinars: Science for Malaria Impact. The webinars will be held every first Wednesday of the month starting in May until December and will last 1h starting at 2:00 pm CEST.
MESA Webinar 3 - Integrating Genomics into the Malaria Interventions Toolbox
The third session of our monthly MESA Webinars: Science for Malaria Impact will be held on July 7 at 2 PM CAT (8 AM EDT, 8 PM SGT). Focusing on genomics, the third webinar will feature Christian Happi, Professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics and Director of the World Bank funded African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), in Redeemer’s University, Nigeria, and Stella Chenet Carrasco, Professor at the National University Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza (UNTRM), Peru.
Watch "Two Billion Mosquito Nets & Counting: a MasterClass with Prof. Christian Lengeler"
Watch below the recording of the Masterclass "Two Billion Mosquito Nets & Counting" with Prof. Christian Lengeler from Swiss TPH.
Ifakara MasterClasses in Public Health Research & Practice. Edition XXVI: Thursday, June 24th 2021
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Hemozoin, sporozoites and immunity.
Mutaz Akkawi, Jerome Munyangi, Pierre Lutgen
Already 200 years ago malaria pigment, later called hemozoin, was discovered.
Virchow, R. Zur pathologischen Physiologie des Bluts. Archiv f. pathol. Anat. 1, 547–563 (1847). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02114475
Watch the APMEN Tech Talk "Sustaining progress towards being malaria free during a COVID-19 pandemic: Learning from Malaysia"
COVID-19 has placed a strain on health systems globally. Last March 2020, APMEN held a session at an early stage in the pandemic, where we explored how countries in the Asia Pacific region were going about sustaining malaria services despite the nascent health crisis of COVID-19. A year on, as we are still very much dealing with the pandemic and rolling out the vaccine progressively, we take stock on the region’s ongoing challenges and successes in keeping malaria under check.
Watch the MESA Webinar - New Approaches to Improve Malaria Mosquito Surveillance and Control
Watch below the recording of the MESA webinar "New Approaches to Improve Malaria Mosquito Surveillance and Control", featuring Fredros Okumu, director of science at the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) in Tanzania, and Mercy Opiyo, medical entomologist at the Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM) in Mozambique and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) in Spain.
