Recent multi-centre trials showed that dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) was as efficacious and safe as artemether-lumefantrine (AL) for treatment of young children with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria across diverse transmission settings in Africa. Longitudinal follow-up of patients in these trials supported previous findings that DP had a longer post-treatment prophylactic effect than AL, … [Read more...]
Global Warming May Lead to More Malaria
British and American researchers predict that global warming could mean the spread of the deadly disease malaria to places where it is practically unknown.Writing in the journal Science, the researchers say they found what they call "indisputable evidence" of the effects of climate change. Working in Colombia and Ethiopia, they say they discovered that malaria rises to higher elevations in … [Read more...]
Interleukin-10 Regulates Hepcidin in Plasmodium falciparum Malaria
Acute malarial anemia remains a major public health problem. Hepcidin, the major hormone controlling the availability of iron, is raised during acute and asymptomatic parasitemia. Understanding the role and mechanism of raised hepcidin and so reduced iron availability during infection is critical to establish evidence-based guidelines for management of malaria anemia. Our recent clinical evidence … [Read more...]
Correlates of Inappropriate Prescribing of Antibiotics to Patients with Malaria in Uganda
In many rural areas of Uganda, febrile patients presenting to health facilities are prescribed both antimalarials and antibiotics, contributing to the overuse of antibiotics. We identified the prevalence and correlates of inappropriate antibiotic management of patients with confirmed malaria. Methods We utilized individual outpatient data from 36 health centers from January to September … [Read more...]
Non-Profit Offers Free Kits of Potential Malaria Cures for Researchers to Study
A nonprofit called Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) is sending free kits of potential malaria cures for researchers. It's called The Malaria Box, and it is the result of a high-throughput screen done by MMV and cooperating pharmaceutical companies. All you have to do is send your request, along with a summary of your research and how you plan to share the data. The box contain samples of 400 … [Read more...]
Show Me the Money! The Sad State of Compassion
Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and author of To Move the World: JFK's Quest for Peace, recently wrote a provocative piece in the Huffington Post entitled "World to Poor: Drop Dead." "The spin-masters are already at work putting all of the sugar coating on it, but the reality is shocking and revealing. The world as a whole didn't come up with a measly $5 … [Read more...]
WHO Sets Roadmap Goal for Vaccines to Reduce Malaria by 75%
Malaria infects hundreds of millions of people every year and causes well over a half million deaths. The World Health Organization and its partners Thursday announced a new goal to license vaccines by 2030 that would sharply reduce malaria cases and eventually eliminate the disease. The 2013 Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap was unveiled in Washington. It expands the scope of vaccine … [Read more...]
SMS for Life Uses Mobile Phones to Increase Access to Essential Antimalaria Medications
SMS for Life harnesses everyday technology to improve access to essential malaria medicines in rural areas of developing countries. It uses a combination of mobile phones, SMS messages and electronic mapping technology to track weekly stock levels at public health facilities in order to: Eliminate stock-outs Increase access to essential medicines Reduce the number of deaths from … [Read more...]
New Tech Savvy Peace Corps Embraces Global Teamwork to Fight Malaria
Christopher Hedrick, Country director of the Peace Corps Senegal writes about the "New Peace Corps" — one that embraces new malaria tools and technological advances to fight malaria on a larger scale than it ever has in the past, with the dedicated efforts of a new generation of young, tech savvy volunteers with lofty goals and accustomed to working with disparate teams. … [Read more...]
Tracking Black Market Malaria Drugs
"The theft and black market resale of anti-malaria medications is a serious problem in African countries like Angola and Tanzania, hindering the global aid effort to combat the disease. U.S. investigators are leading a probe into the widespread theft and black-market resale of malaria drugs donated to Africa by the U.S. government. Organized theft is plaguing the multibillion-dollar aid effort, … [Read more...]