Africa London Nagasaki Scholarship Fund
The scholarship will allow African researchers to undertake an MSc in a subject relevant to the control of infectious disease in the developing world at either the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Japan (NEKKEN) or at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK (LSHTM).
Application deadline: Friday 30 September 2011
When students embark on research in the field of malaria they receive a pile of published articles from their supervisors to bring them up to speed. Great papers in Nature and Science, and students, for sure, hope that one day their names will appear in the list of authors on an article in one of these journals. Remember that feeling? I sure do. And did. But the world is changing...
The past few weeks have been good for the press when it gets to malaria. First they discovered what many of us knew all along: that resistance to pyrethroids is on the rise and may jeopardise the usefulness of LLINs. Then they marvelled at the 'outbreak' in Greece, where six were diagnosed with P. vivax malaria without ever having left the country. And this week's high is the story that mosquito numbers in Africa are dropping for some mysterious reason. The more money that goes into malaria research, the more scientists are coming out with remarkable findings, and the press gulps it up and make the stories ever more gripping. Which I understand...
As I write the title of this editorial I know that I don’t have the answer to it. But it is an issue that is a lot on my mind these days. Let me tell you why...
Organisation: Monash University
Location: Victoria, Australia
Deadline for applications:
Friday 30 September 2011
Organisation: Monash University
Location: Victoria, Australia
Deadline for applications:
Friday 30 September 2011
Organisation: Keele University, Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine
Sometimes you come across articles that blow your mind. You read them and feel your heartbeat increasing. Each sentence you finish makes you wonder more what is going on here. What the politics are, who's really behind it, and what the goal of it is....
The book 'The Moses of Malaria', authored by Dr. Jan Peter Verhave, which was published recently by Erasmus Publishing in The Netherlands (find more information here), is all about the life and work of Professor Nicolaas Swellengrebel (1885-1970), beyond doubt one of the most important and influential scientists of 20th Century Holland.
The article below was contributed by journalist Ntaryike Divine Jr. (Douala, Cameroon) as part of the SjCOOP project in collaboration with MalariaWorld.
Organisation: University of Glasgow, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine
Location: Tanzania
Closing date: 8th July 2011
Ref: M00269
Organisation: Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania and the University of Glasgow, UK
Location of PhD: Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania and UG, UK. Registered for PhD at UG
Duration: 3 years, commencing October 2011
Proposed Supervisors: Nico Govella (IHI) and Heather Ferguson (UG)
Closing date for applications: 1st July 2011
Closing date for receiving applications: 30th June 2011, 5.00pm BST
Reference: 276
Closing date for receiving applications: 10.00am, (BST) Tuesday 21st June 2011
Salary: £30,870 - £35,789 per annum Grade 7
Full-time fixed-term 2 Year Appointment
The government of Uganda wants people to use Artemisinin Combination Therapy (ACT) for treating malaria but the treatment is too expensive and there’s not enough available of this medicine.
The overreaching objective of AvecNet is to develop new tools for malaria vector control in Africa. The mandate includes a commitment to develop research capacity in this field and as a result we will be offering a number of PhD studentships to outstanding young scientists who wish to pursue a career in malaria vector control in Africa.
Maximising the translation potential of new malaria control tools through application of health economics and policy analysis
Organisation: Liverpool School of tropical Medicine
Location of PhD: LSTM, UK with field work in one or more African country. Registered for PhD at LSTM
Duration: 3 years, commencing 2012
Closing date for applications: 18th June 2011
AvecNet Project
A new multi-partner, interdisciplinary consortium, AvecNet, has recently been established with funding from the European Commission (www.avecnet.eu). The overreaching objective of AvecNet is to develop new tools for malaria vector control in Africa. The mandate includes a commitment to develop research capacity in this field and as a result we will be offering a number of PhD studentships to outstanding young scientists who wish to pursue a career in malaria vector control in Africa.
Rationale
New tools are needed to help the fight against malaria. AvecNet aims to develop and evaluate new tools to prevent mosquito mediated transmission of malaria and translate them into improved malaria control in Africa. These tools will be evaluated in field trials to determine their effectiveness. Acceptability to end users will also be assessed using stakeholder analysis. Effectiveness and end user acceptability are necessary but not sufficient criteria for the wide scale adoption of a new intervention. This PhD will focus on identifying and prioritising the economic and policy evidence base required to influence key actors and maximise the translation potential of new interventions for malaria vector control. During the latter part of the PhD, the candidate will work with AvecNet scientists to generate and package evidence on new interventions developed during this project in a way most likely to influence policy and practice.
Objectives
1. To map the key stakeholders/actors involved in policy making, financing, delivery and use of vector control tools at household, local, national and international levels, and to determine the economic, political and other motivating objectives and influences implicated in translation of vector control tools for each stakeholder group
2. To define the evidence base and policy environment required to influence key actors and maximise translation potential of new/improved vector control tools
3. To participate in the cost effectiveness analysis of vector control tools developed under AvecNet
4. To analyse the equity implications of new vector control tools, and potential alternative delivery systems
5. To analyse the health systems implications of introduction and scale up of new vector control tools
Training
This PhD will combine health economics tools (e.g. cost effectiveness and equity analysis) with policy analysis methods. In the first year, a tailored training programme will be developed including the principles of malaria transmission and control and theoretical frameworks for equity, cost-effectiveness, health systems, policy analysis. The candidate will also have opportunities to interact with AvecNet partners in field sites in Africa to witness some of the challenges facing scale up of vector control. In the latter part of the PhD, the candidate will be expected to spend significant time in Africa working alongside field trials of new interventions. The PhD will culminate in the development of a practical plan or “roadmap” to maximise translation potential of vector control tools and ultimately improve malaria control in Africa.
Pre-requisites
• Previous experience working on public health economics, health systems and/or health policy issues
• Good understanding of international and national level health policy processes, actors and priorities
• BSc/MSc in economics and/or public policy or closely related field
• Commitment to working in a multi-disciplinary team
• Willingness to spend part of PhD in UK and an African country
• Ability to maintain a strategic focus at the same time as working on detailed micro analysis
Capacity building in malaria endemic countries is a key objective of the AvecNet project. Although there are no nationality restrictions on this PhD position, applications from African nationals would be welcomed. All applicants would be expected to demonstrate a commitment to building research capacity in malaria research in Africa.
Further information on this PhD can be obtained fromeworrall@liverpool.ac.uk
This PhD is currently open to applications. To apply please send a CV and cover letter explaining your reasons for applying to eworrall@liv.ac.uk
Closing date for applications is 18th June 2011.
The overreaching objective of AvecNet is to develop new tools for malaria vector control in Africa. The mandate includes a commitment to develop research capacity in this field and as a result we will be offering a number of PhD studentships to outstanding young scientists who wish to pursue a career in malaria vector control in Africa.
Organisation: Liverpool School of tropical Medicine
Location of PhD: NIMR Tanzania and LSTM, UK. Registered for PhD at LSTM
Duration: 3 years, commencing October 2011
Closing date for applications: 18th June 2011
AvecNet Project
A new multi-partner, interdisciplinary consortium, AvecNet, has recently been established with funding from the European Commission (www.avecnet.eu). The overreaching objective of AvecNet is to develop new tools for malaria vector control in Africa. The mandate includes a commitment to develop research capacity in this field and as a result we will be offering a number of PhD studentships to outstanding young scientists who wish to pursue a career in malaria vector control in Africa.
Rationale
The effects of residual insecticide treatments on the host seeking and resting behaviour of endophilic malaria vectors are not well understood. The possible range of behavioural responses that such insecticides might elicit is great, with each response potentially influencing how effective any insecticide might be, how resistance might develop and how rapidly such a process might take. Moreover, insecticide resistant populations might exhibit different responses. This aspect of insecticide action is rarely investigated and lags behind our knowledge of the genetics of insecticide resistance.
Using state-of-the-art techniques, being developed in collaboration with the Mechanical Engineering Department at Leeds University, we are investigating these behaviours in the African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae in the laboratory and in the field. Working with other groups within the multidisciplinary research consortium AVECNET (we aim to characterise behaviour in insecticide susceptible populations from Tanzania prior to studies on resistant populations. Work will be undertaken in unique laboratory experimental facilities in UK and in experimental huts in the field in Africa.
The student will be responsible for building quantifiable and reproducible profiles of a series of behaviours in mosquitoes that will provide a basis for the detection of any potential changes that might occur with insecticide resistance.
Objectives
1. To investigate approach and landing responses of Anopheles gambiae to residual treatments of insecticides at the micro and macro-behavioural level, using new tracking technologies, in the laboratory
2. To develop these protocols for use in similar studies and in experimental hut studies on natural mosquito populations in the field in Tanzania
3. To determine how insecticides, deployed by various standard methods in houses, impact on mosquito behaviour and how mosquito behaviours might influence the efficacy of individual insecticides
4. To investigate the association between behavioural profiles and molecular markers of resistance in different susceptible and resistant mosquito populations in Africa
Training
This PhD will combine cutting edge insect tracking technology with field entomology. During initial studies at Liverpool, the student will learn how to undertake laboratory studies quantifying behaviour prior to work in Tanzania. The student will receive training in insect behaviour experimental techniques and associated technology. Liaising with collaborators investigating the same mosquito populations at the genetic level, there may be additional opportunities for molecular investigations.
Pre-requisites
• Previous experience working with malaria vectors in the field
• Good understanding of vector behaviour
• BSc/MSc in biological sciences
• Scientifically inquisitive with a commitment to learning and applying complex laboratory and statistical techniques
• Willingness to spend part of PhD in UK
• Commitment to a career in malaria vector control in Africa
Capacity building in malaria endemic countries is a key objective of the AvecNet project. Although there are no nationality restrictions on this PhD position, applications from African nationals with demonstrated interest and commitment to developing a long term career in malaria control in Africa are particularly encouraged.
Further information on this PhD can be obtained frommccall@liverpool.ac.uk
This PhD is currently open to applications. To apply please send a CV and cover letter explaining your reasons for applying to eworrall@liv.ac.uk
Closing date for applications is 18th June 2011.
The article below was contributed by journalist Ntaryike Divine Jr. (Douala, Cameroon) as part of the SjCOOP project in collaboration with MalariaWorld.
For several years, bednets and insecticide spraying have served as priority weapons in the fight against malaria transmission across Africa. However, the defiant vampire vectors and malaria parasites in their mad quests for survival have regularly altered tactics, formulating resistance to insecticides and even drugs to maintain their claim on human lives.
The La Jolla Bioengineering Institute invites applications for a post-doctoral position in malaria research using the Plasmodium berghei ANKA mouse model of cerebral malaria (CM).
You’ve probably noticed that the number of pages in newspapers and science journals does not expand and contract much while the importance of underlying news stories varies wildly. So is the hoopla surrounding the recent report of a demonstration of gene drive in mosquitoes about something hot or just a bunch of hot air? I’ll tell you what I think.
The article below was contributed by journalist Ntaryike Divine Jr. (Douala, Cameroon) as part of the SjCOOP project in collaboration with MalariaWorld.
Most of us that have worked in the field of malaria for a few decades have gone through periods where we suddenly noticed changes in drug policy. When chloroquine was replaced by sulfadoxine-pyremethamine as a first-line drug, later to be replaced by artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs).
But the world is now faced with a new challenge. That of preventing artemisinin resistance from escaping south-east Asia. Without anything to replace it (yet), this is a looming catastrophe, according to Joel Breman in an interview with TropIKA.net. It may still be confined to the Thai-Cambodia border, although nobody really nows have far it has spread.
The article below was contributed by journalist Leocadia Bongben (Cameroon) as part of the SjCOOP project in collaboration with MalariaWorld.
An international alliance of malaria scientists, whose secretariat has roved around the planet until now, is planning to settle down permanently in Yaoundé.
The Multilateral Initiative for Malaria (MIM), established in 1997, was previously headquartered in London, Washington, Stockholm and Dar es Salaam.
The use of entomopathogenic fungi as a means to control populations of adult malaria vectors is gaining increased attention. Recently we reported on the PhD thesis of Dr. Marit Farenhorst, and below we report the findings from the PhD of Dr. Joel Mouatcho, who recently graduated from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.
I am establishing this Blog in the hopes of stimulating interest in improving the WHO and PMI strategies for fighting malaria in Africa.
The editors of the open access general medical journal PLoS Medicine are delighted to announce the publication of a collection of 12 reviews, comprising three reflective pieces and nine research and development agendas, as part of a sponsored Supplement. The Collection comprises the output of countless hours of discussion and debate by those involved in the malERA initiative and we hope that by publishing this Collection better transparency in defining research priorities will be achieved for malariologists around the world. The articles also provide fascinating insights into what the selected malaria experts who took part agree are the priority research themes that must be tackled in order to eradicate malaria.
In July of 2010, the Mike Riehle lab reported that they had created a transgenic strain of Anopheles stephensi that was refractory to malaria (first author Corby-Harris (here and here). However, as they noted, there is no way to spread the transgene into wild populations thus making this an important laboratory finding waiting for an undeveloped drive mechanism. I’ll argue that this provides an opportunity rather than a hurdle. How? Read on.
Chris Blattman is an Assistant Professor of Political Science & Economics at Yale University. He uses field work and statistics to study poverty, political participation, the causes and consequences of violence, and policy in developing countries. Read his website here. I invited Chris to post his blog on malaria on the MW platform, shown below.
Below a blog contribution from Lotte Vermij, who I invited to send us this guest editorial after I saw her article in a Dutch magazine. Lotte kindly translated it in English.As a gift to start 2011, I thought I’d help the anti-GMO-no-way-no-how folks with a critique of their arguments, and I’ll offer some real meat for them with which they might get greater respect. Let’s start 2011 by establishing some common ground.
