News
13th July 2010
Artemisinin Directly Targets Malarial Mitochondria through Its Specific Mitochondrial Activation
A recent study investigating the antimalarial action of artemisinins found that mitochondrion are an important direct target. The full article is avalaible online in the peer-reviewed, open-access publication PLoS One.
13th July 2010
Conference bursaries available for 'Parasite to prevention'
BioMed Central and Malaria Journal have announced the availability of a number of bursary places for their joint conference, 'Parasite to prevention: Advances in the understanding of malaria'. These bursaries are open to researchers and graduate students from low-income and lower-middle income countries and will cover the cost of travel, accommodation and conference registration. Places are...
13th July 2010
NIH Funds 10 International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research
In an effort to accelerate the control of malaria and help eliminate it worldwide, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced approximately $14 million in first-year funding to establish 10 new malaria research centers around the world. Read the full press release.
12th July 2010
The Tenacious Buzz of Malaria
Sonia Shah, author of 'The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 years', offers a fascinating short history of malaria from Roman times through to the current struggle with antimalarial resistance. Read the full story in the Wall Street Journal.
15th June 2010
Publishing 2010: Are we ready for Open Access 2.0?
MalariaWorld recently announced plans to start up the MalariaWorld Journal, an open access publication that will be made available through their online platform. The MalariaWorld Journal will have an Editor and Editorial Board, whose work will be supported by a funding agency. Submitted manuscripts will be peer-reviewed and published as PDFs that can be downloaded for free from the around the...
17th May 2010
New Global Health Clinical Trials website
The Global Health Clinical Trials Programme, an open-access collaborative web based platform, recently launched a pilot website. The goal is to promote and make easier the conduct of non-commercial clinical trials across all diseases in resource-poor settings by providing guidance articles and materials, training and career support, and by enabling the sharing of best practices. The site is...
4th May 2010
Global Fund seeks experts to serve on Technical Review Panel
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an international financing institution that invests the world’s money to save lives. To date, it has committed US$ 19.3 billion in 144 countries to support large-scale prevention, treatment and care programs against the three diseases. Funding proposals submitted to the Global Fund are reviewed by a 43-member Technical Review Panel (TRP...
28th April 2010
Epicentre of the battle against malaria
There is no more urgent mission than stopping the spread of the drug-resistant mosquito-borne parasite that has surfaced near the Thai-Cambodian border. To read the full story reported in the Bangkok Post, click here.
28th April 2010
University of Reading project aims to make antimalarials more affordable
Dr Geoff Brown, University of Reading, aims to make antimalarials more affordable through his research to unravel the biosynthetic pathway by which the Chinese Wormwood plant produces artemisinin. To see the full press release, click here.
28th April 2010
US Releases Six-Year Strategy to Combat Malaria Globally
In conjunction with World Malaria Day, the US Government, through the President's Malaria Initiative, today released a comprehensive strategy to combat malaria globally. To see the full press release, click here.
28th April 2010
WHO unveils landmark anti-malaria measures
WHO unveiled new measures to counter the misuse of antimalarial drugs March 9 2010. To read the full story reported in the Bangkok Post, click here.
25th April 2010
World Malaria Day 2010
World Malaria Day 2010 is marked with a dedicated website from Roll Back Malaria. This third World Malaria Day is set to be even bigger and better than last year. The ongoing Roll Back Malaria Partnership campaign 'Counting Malaria Out' aims to intensify global efforts to reach important milestones set by the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP). We have less than a year to meet the 2010 target of...
12th April 2010
A call to action: addressing the challenge of artemisinin-resistant malaria
Katchur, MacArthur and Slutsker make the case for reinvesting in tracking drug resistance outside the areas of immediate concern in the Mekong basin in an editorial published in Expert Review of Anti-Infective Therapy April 2010. A call to action: addressing the challenge of artemisinin-resistant malaria Stephen P Kachur, John R MacArthur and Laurence Slutsker† Open Access: Expert Review in Anti-...
10th April 2010
Nicholas White—winner of 2010 Gairdner Global Health Award
Nick White, WWARN Chair and Director of the Wellcome Trust's South-east Asia Major Overseas Programme, has been awarded the prestigious Gairdner Global Health Award. The Canadian prize honors and rewards outstanding biomedical scientists who have made original contributions to medicine with the ultimate goal of contributing through research to the conquest of disease and relief of human suffering...
9th March 2010
WHO RELEASES NEW MALARIA GUIDELINES FOR TREATMENT AND PROCUREMENT OF MEDICINES
The World Health Organization (WHO) is releasing new guidelines for the treatment of malaria, and the first ever guidance on procuring safe and efficacious anti-malarial medicines. In recent years a new type of treatment called artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACTs) has transformed the treatment of malaria, but if not used properly the medicine could become ineffective. The Guidelines for...
7th March 2010
Cambodia drug-resistant malaria stirs health fears
In a dusty village near the Thai-Cambodia border, 24-year-old Oeur Samoeun sits on a dark green hammock recovering from a strain of malaria that has resisted the most powerful drugs available. Ravaged by days of fever and chills, he is considered lucky: the parasite has left his body. But for many others, the potentially deadly disease never quite disappears. His province of Pailin is the...
5th March 2010
CDC monitors malaria cases in Haiti
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has received reports of several cases of malaria in Haiti since a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the country Jan. 12, according to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released March 5. Malaria, caused by Plasmodium falciparum infection and transmitted by the mosquito Anopheles albimanus, is endemic in Haiti. “Thus,” the CDC noted, “...
1st March 2010
Can we really eradicate malaria?
Bill Gates and Stephen O'Brien believe we can eradicate malaria within their lifetimes - at least as long as they both live to be 100. Gates needs no introduction. O'Brien is the chairman of the all-party parliamentary committee on malaria in the UK. He is much the same age as Gates, he tells me, though there probably the resemblance ends. He is a health spokesman in David Cameron's party and may...
1st March 2010
Launch of UK APPMG Sixth Report - Control of Malaria 2005-15: progess and priorities towards eradication
UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases launches its sixth and final report: Control of Malaria 2005-15: Progress and Priorities towards Elimination. The report, authored by Professor David Schellenberg, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, summarizes evidence presented to the committee over the last two years. Dr Margaret Chan, Director...
22nd February 2010
Malaria Research Must Be Based in Africa, Researcher Urges
Gunilla Priebe has studied the international research alliance the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM), which advocates for malaria research in general and the strengthening of research environments in Africa. Malaria research has historically been controlled by interests located in areas outside Africa. This has led to a huge gap in knowledge in relation to the malaria problems that...
16th February 2010
Malaria Is a Likely Killer in King Tut’s Post-Mortem
King Tutankhamen, the boy pharaoh, was frail and lame and suffered “multiple disorders” when he died at age 19 about 1324 B.C., but scientists have now determined the most likely agents of death: a severe bout of malaria combined with a degenerative bone condition. The researchers said that to their knowledge “this is the oldest genetic proof of malaria in precisely dated mummies.” Several other...
15th February 2010
Private Sector and PMI Join Forces, Strengthen Angola’s Capacity to Control Mosquitoes
Luanda, Angola - Top global companies and the President's Malaria Initiative are working with the Government of Angola on an intensive technical training program to arm the country's malaria fighters with state-of-the-art mosquito surveillance and vector control techniques. By aiding the sharing of these comprehensive technical skills and best practices in mosquito monitoring and evaluation, as...
15th February 2010
Private Sector and PMI Join Forces, Strengthen Angola’s Capacity to Control Mosquitoes
Luanda, Angola - Top global companies and the President's Malaria Initiative are working with the Government of Angola on an intensive technical training program to arm the country's malaria fighters with state-of-the-art mosquito surveillance and vector control techniques. By aiding the sharing of these comprehensive technical skills and best practices in mosquito monitoring and evaluation, as...
10th February 2010
High proportions of malaria drugs are found to be substandard
TropIKA.net: Medicines for malaria are amongst the drugs most commonly found in counterfeit or substandard form. The first results of a major study in Africa have confirmed the extent of this problem. In Senegal, 44% of antimalarials were found to be substandard. In the two other countries from which data is so far available – Madagascar and Uganda – the percentages of substandard products were...
8th January 2010
Drug procurement, the Global Fund and misguided competition policies
Artemisinin-combination therapies (ACTs) provide an effective treatment for most cases of malaria but these life-saving drugs are still not reaching the majority of the people who need them. This is particularly the case in Africa, where frequent “stock outs” of ACTs and other drugs threaten to make a mockery of official treatment guidelines. The factors that lead to stock outs clearly need – but...
3rd January 2010
Dar to track supply of malaria drugs via SMS
By J. MWAMUNYANGE, The East African A pilot drugs supply management project called “SMS for Life” has Tanzania authorities excited over its potential. The project, which brings together IBM, Novartis, Vodafone and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, taps into a combination of smart technologies to track and manage the supply of anti-malarial drugs. The concept is the brainchild of students...
