SP molecular surveyor update collaborators seek to broaden data sources

WWARN Published Date

The Malaria in Pregnancy Scientific Group, a collaboration between WWARN and the Malaria in Pregnancy (MiP) Consortium, has updated the SP Molecular Surveyor, in order to display the most recently published evidence (2014-2016) on the prevalence of common molecular markers of resistance to sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP). The Scientific Group are also requesting any missing data from potential contributors as part of the update.

SP is the recommended drug for intermittent preventive treatment against malaria infection in pregnant women (IPTp), and in combination with amodiaquine is used for seasonal malaria chemoprophylaxis (SMC) in children. Because these two preventive interventions are now being widely deployed across malaria endemic regions, there is renewed interest in compiling the most up-to-date prevalence of resistance to this antimalarial, to ensure the continued effectiveness of these strategies, and to inform when and where alternative strategies will be needed.

Each pin on the map displays the year and location of sample collection, and the prevalence of the validated resistance markers and important haplotypes in Plasmodium falciparum dhfr and dhps.

To date WWARN has compiled these maps using only published information. The team would like to improve the tool’s completeness by incorporating other data sources, including unpublished data, and data from publications that were missed in the literature search.

"We are pleased to be moving ahead with this SP Resistance Surveyor update so that the most recent published information will be available," said Dr Jenny Hill, a research project manager at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. "The next step is to develop an interpretive guide so that policy makers and other country-based users can use the surveyor as an informative tool to guide policy change."

Since the only information on the map is the prevalence of the markers, inclusion in the surveyor does not prevent later publication of the whole study. These untapped sources represent a hugely valuable resource to support global and national policy decision-making and for others interested in monitoring and current surveillance of these markers.

Do you have data to share? Are you interested in using the map for a specific purpose? Please share your data and ideas on how we can improve the online surveyor by emailing the MiP Scientific Group Coordinator Dr Jenny Hill jenny.hill@lstmed.ac.uk.

The data used to populate the surveyor are freely available. You can download the complete file here: Get the Database.

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