MESA Alliance's blog

The Malaria Eradication Scientific Alliance (MESA) is seeking three volunteer MESA Correspondents to report from the Pan-African Mosquito Control Association (PAMCA) annual conference in Yaounde, Cameroon, 23-25 September 2019.

Day 2: Thursday, 27th June

The main focus of the presentations on day two of the 7th International Conference on Plasmodium vivax Research was on laboratory exploration of P. vivax biological characteristics, parasite development stages and host-parasite interaction. There was a lively poster session during the lunch period and a conference dinner at the magnificent Musée d’Orsay.

Mary Mael and Maria Tusell*

Participants in the Science of Eradication: Malaria course shared a sense of optimism and agreed on the need for leadership and data-driven decision-making in the fight against this disease

“Collaboration” was probably the word most heard when asking the participants of the 8th edition of the Science of Eradication: Malaria course how they thought the fight against malaria could be improved. Even though progress has stalled, as highlighted by the head of the Global Malaria Programme, Pedro Alonso, in the opening lecture, participants left Barcelona with a shared feeling of optimism and a perception that with commitment, a multidisciplinary approach to the disease and data-driven decisions; malaria control, elimination and eradication are indeed achievable goals.

The 5th International conference on Malaria Vaccines for the World (MVW) was held on May 8-10 at the University of Oxford, UK. The current status of new technologies, vaccine candidates, clinical trials and the RTS/s implementation studies were discussed during three intensive days, and here you can read coverage of each session from the MESA Correspondents.

WHO is undertaking a consultative process to solicit inputs into a prioritization framework for the research and development (R&D) of malaria health products. A draft report “Analysis of Malaria R&D Priorities” identifies five key challenges that represent threats or barriers to achieving the WHO Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016–2030 goals. This early copy of the report is being shared at a time when WHO is exploring how best to guide and support the development of priority solutions to meet public health needs.

WHO welcomes feedback on this draft report until 28 February 2019, including the correction of errors or omissions, updates to product development pipelines, and perspectives on the approach to prioritization.