Fight Malaria, 16 April 2021
How decoding the mosquito’s sense of smell could take the bite out of malaria. An interview with Professor Conor McMeniman of the Malaria Research Institute at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health...
Research colonialism obstructs malaria elimination
On 30 March Science Development Net published an article titled Research colonialism still plagues Africa. In summary it reads: "African researchers are suffering from power dynamics that favour global North collaborators"; and "While some initiatives are helping build local capacity, others undervalue African collaborators." This of course is not new. It is common practice and we have known that for long. But now it has been published and illustrated with a recent case: this years announcement of PATH and the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative to launch a $30M global malaria project. A collaboration of seven US, UK and Australian partners to help African National Malaria Control Programmes to fight malaria and save lives. The announcement ends with "Let's work together to end malaria." I can't help but I read this announcements as follows: we, a north-north collaboration, received $30M because only we know how to control malaria and we only trust ourselves with this amount of funding. However, we will involve you (researchers and organisations from the South) because we need you to do the actual work on the ground. We believe that we can make this into a success that we can publish in Nature, Science or the Lancet. So, let's work together to end malaria! I surely hope that my interpretation is wrong. There is a way to find out. Malaria professionals from the South speak up! AND malaria professionals from the North listen! Trust, respect, and shared decision making are at the base of a true North-South collaboration. Malaria is besides being a medical problem, also a socio-economic disease that needs to be researched, prevented and controlled in its socio-economic environment.
Stay healthy, stay safe and enjoy MalariaWorld
Inga
Founder & Senior Editor MalariaWorld
Director Dutch Malaria Foundation
On 30 March SciDev.net published an article titled Research colonialism still plagues Africa. In summary it reads: "African researchers are suffering from power dynamics that favour global North collaborators"; and "While some initiatives are helping build local capacity, others undervalue African collaborators."
Ever since the inception of knowledge-based malaria control more than a century ago, vector control has been the primary strategy for combatting malaria. In recent decades, the focus has been on the use of Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs) and Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) of insecticides. In Asia Pacific, much of the transmission occurs outdoors, and such outdoor transmission is a major driver of residual malaria.
Malaria Minute, 9 April 2021
Researchers detail the extent of antimalarial drug resistance around the world, considering its implications for the WHO's Global Technical Strategy for Malaria.
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Yesterday I was reading a very interesting Forum Interview from 1998 with Dr Mohyeddin A. Farid about malaria eradication, titled "The malaria campaign - why not eradication?" where malaria is discussed as a political disease. Dr Farid worked for the World Health Organization from 1949 until his retirement in 1972. Because malaria is intertwined with socioeconomic development he discussed malaria as a political disease and stated that "It is an explosive disease, not a silent one. When epidemics cause too much suffering, the people revolt and can bring about governmental changes...".
Bednets and Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) have been the mainstay interventions against malaria in recent decades. Together, these tools have translated in dramatic reductions in global malaria cases. Many nations approaching the pre-elimination phase still have residual malaria, largely as a result of outdoor transmission.
Countries in the Asia Pacific region have done extremely well in achieving impressing levels of malaria reduction, but many still face the challenges of pernicious residual malaria. In Greater Mekong Subregion, much of this remaining malaria occurs within remote forested areas among forest-goers and mobile populations, where transmission happens outdoors. In these situations, bed nets and indoor spraying are not effective. Much has been published and debated on the subject but remains as intractable a challenge as ever. What to do about it?
A few weeks ago I noticed the announcement of a new conference: the WiM—the Women in Malaria conference. I thought "wow, that's quite something" and expected that it would be some sort of (follow up on the) Women in Vector Control Workshop that the Pan-African Mosquito Control Association (PAMCA) organised just prior to it's 2019 annual conference in Yaoundé, Cameroon. I was truly moved by what happened during that symposium.
The Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) Vector Control Working Group is hosting a series of vector-related webinars to keep the elimination momentum.
View the recordings of the APMEN Tech Talk "Sampling methods for adult malaria vectors" - recorded on 28 April 2020
MESA Correspondents bring you cutting-edge coverage from the Keystone Symposia "Malaria in the Era of COVID-19"
Day 2: Wednesday, 17th March 2021
Notification of Top Three Posters
MESA Correspondents bring you cutting-edge coverage from the Keystone Symposia "Malaria in the Era of COVID-19"
Day 1: Tuesday, 16th March 2021
Welcoming Remarks and Keynote Address
In my recent weblog « Africa, Covid and Schistosomiasis » I documented that eosinophilia is common in helminthic infections (www.malariaworld.org 14/01/2021) and that this might significatly contribute to a protection against viral infections. And that this could explain the low incidence of Covid in tropical African countries.
By Michael Macdonald, Sc.D.
As many of you have learned through the recent flurry of emails across our global vector control family, on Tuesday March 9 we lost a wonderful human being and great public health entomologist, Dr. Mike Bangs.
The program* for the Keystone & MESA eSymposia Malaria in the Era of COVID-19 is out! Nearly 20 leading figures from the malaria ecosystem will feature this virtual event whose scientific organisers are Regina Rabinovich, Director of the Malaria Elimination Initiative at ISGlobal and Chair of the MESA Alliance, and Abdisalan Noor, leader of the Surveillance, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit of the Global Malaria Programme at the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The deadline to apply for the position as MESA correspondent has been extended until 10 March 2021.
The Malaria Eradication Scientific Alliance (MESA) is seeking volunteers as MESA Correspondents to report from the eSymposia Malaria in the Era of COVID-19 organized by the Virtual Keystone Symposia (VKS) in collaboration with MESA, happening on March 16 - 17, 2021.
A few years ago we described in a blog on www.malariaword.org the role zinc may have in diarrhea and tropical diseases. Zn2+ deficiency is a common comorbidity of many chronic diseases.
In a recent weblog we describe the deleterious effect of zinc deficiency in elderly people on the development of pneumonia. Zinc deficiency has a detrimental effect on blood pressure and hypertension is one of the major causes of mortality in Covid infections.
World Health Organization News Release, 25 February 2021
El Salvador is first Central American country to achieve this status, third in all of the Americas in recent years
El Salvador today became the first country in Central America to be awarded a certification of malaria elimination by the World Health Organization (WHO). The certification follows more than 50 years of commitment by the Salvadoran government and people to ending the disease in a country with dense population and geography hospitable to malaria.
A smart app for cost-effective planning, executing, and monitoring of large-scale operations
An Israeli startup that developed smart malaria elimination software has been named one of the three finalists of the AI XPRIZE competition, sponsored by IBM Watson, for 2021. The competition challenges entrants to present projects that harness artificial intelligence (AI) to address societal and global challenges.
Malaria Minute, 19 February 2021
Researchers reveal the importance of antibody affinity and dissociation constant in parasite neutralisation.
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The WHO Guidelines for malaria bring together the Organization’s most up-to-date recommendations for malaria in one user-friendly and easy-to-navigate online platform.
Representatives from malaria-affected countries and partner organizations gathered on 28 January in a WHO virtual forum to share feedback and perspectives on the Global technical strategy for malaria 2016-2030. Inputs from a diverse group of stakeholders will be reflected in an updated strategy, which will be published in June 2021.
An increased number of scientific papers confirm that diabetes causes an increased risk in the mortality and severity of COVID-19. However, the mechanism is not entirely clear. Understanding the relationship between COVID-19 and diabetes could advance therapeutic measures, but there is a scarcity of data on the matter.
Gina Dube, an advanced practice clinical pharmacist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts suggests that impaired immune systems make individuals with diabetes more susceptible to severe infections.
Here is something of fundamental malariological interest:
A past suggestion is that both early and late homologous recurrences of Plasmodium vivax malaria can have a non-circulating merozoite origin [1–4].
There is now revealing new (February 2021) evidence which supports this idea. Some post-28-day recurrences that took place during a recent study appeared to be recrudescences rather than relapses [5]. Thus, it seems likely that a combination of the two types of recurrence can occur after 28 days.
By the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Adetokunbo Lucas, (born 1931; died 25 December 2020) universally known as Ade, was born in Nigeria, but he stands as a truly international figure through his service to medicine and the needs of the developing world.
On a regular basis I receive the request if MalariaWorld can help 'getting a message across' to malaria professionals around the world. Of course, we can do that.
So often I realise that many of our members, like yourself, who have been with us for years, are not aware of the impact that we can generate for you. We can help you to reach more than 10.700 malaria professionals in 140 countries.
Application deadline: 5 February 2021, 16:00 (GMT 1.00)
The RBM Partnership to End Malaria is the global platform for coordinated action against malaria. It mobilizes for action and resources and forges consensus among partners. The Partnership is comprised of more than 500 partners, including malaria endemic countries, their bilateral and multilateral development partners, the private sector, nongovernmental and community-based organizations, foundations, and research and academic institutions. For more info check the RBM website: www.endmalaria.org
Deadline for applications: 19 February 2021 (23:59 GMT)
TDR (the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases), SIHI (the Social Innovation in Health Initiative), and WHO regional offices are pleased to issue this call for proposals to identify good practices in engaging communities in research for implementation and in social innovation, in low- and middle-income countries.
Are you developing the next game-changing health innovation?
Application deadline March 31, 2021
The Africa Young Innovators for Health Award is launching its first competition designed to highlight and support the work of pioneering young entrepreneurs developing health innovations.
