By Charlotte Follari, Norma Quintanilla, and Emily Shambaugh Malaria is one of the world’s most widespread and deadly infectious diseases, with nearly half of the world’s population at risk of exposure. One of the major barriers to effective malaria control, and the reason why it remains such an entrenched public health problem, is that risk of exposure, and access to control interventions, … [Read more...]
Lessons Learned from the Elimination of Malaria in the United States
By Jordan Cuevas, Mackenzie Moore, and Grant Rosensteel Malaria is one of the most widespread infectious diseases, affecting millions of people around the world every year and resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Despite its ubiquity, some countries have been able to successfully control, and even eliminate, malaria. This piece takes a look at how the United States tackled the … [Read more...]
Challenges for Malaria Elimination: Cycles of Poverty
By Corey Rathe, Sabrina Barrett, Hannah Hidle, Emma Weimer Malaria is a serious and life-threatening disease – it is also preventable and treatable. So, why does malaria continue to devastate the lives of hundreds of millions each year? Poverty cycles hold much of this responsibility. Disease and suffering are amplified through overwhelming and cyclical traps. Malaria’s burden and most … [Read more...]
Getting to Know Plasmodium knowlesi: The New Parasite on the Block
By Matt Boyce, Gretchen Mohr, and Eva Rest Plasmodium knowlesi, one species of the multiple protozoan parasites that cause malaria, has joined the lineup of human malaria parasites. P. knowlesi was originally known to cause malaria in long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques typically found in Southeast Asia (Figure 1). Only within the last two decades have scientists recognized that P. knowlesi is … [Read more...]
Are We Doing Enough for Malaria Research?
I used the World RePORT online app to investigate some key questions raised by the recent Malaria Futures for Africa report. Earlier this year, the Malaria Futures for Africa (MalaFA) report was released. A large opinion research study, incorporating views and insights from top malaria experts in government, academia, and non-governmental organizations across Africa, the report presented a … [Read more...]
A Worrying Trend – What if Malaria Control is Getting Harder?
Driving down the road this week in Conakry, the capital city of Guinea, I saw large banners highlighting World Malaria Day on April 25. Guinea, sandwiched between Mali, Senegal, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau in West Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world and is also hyper-endemic for malaria. It experienced an estimated 4.79 million cases in 2016, out of a total population … [Read more...]
Bad drugs: How Falsified and Poor Quality Medicine is Hampering the Fight Against Malaria
Malaria.com is delighted to present this latest e-issue in partnership with WWARN (the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network). WWARN focuses on gathering data and collating resources related to malaria medication, and specifically factors affecting its efficacy. One on-going effort relates to monitoring of drug quality – as one of the critical tools used for malaria control (along with … [Read more...]
Malaria in Pregnancy Is a Matter of Life and Death – for Mother and Child
This quarter’s e-issue focuses on malaria in pregnancy, a critically important topic within the field of malaria prevention and control. The changes that occur in a woman’s body when she becomes pregnant, and particularly to her immune system, leave her especially vulnerable to contracting malaria, and experiencing severe illness. Dr. Stephanie Valderramos describes these physiological changes … [Read more...]
World Malaria Day 2015: A Major (Millennial) Milestone
April 25 was World Malaria Day. Each year, it gives us a chance to reflect on where we stand in the on-going struggle to control this deadly disease. This year is no exception, and in fact, provides even more reason for measuring progress – 2015 is the milestone by which the international community will judge progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), a set of bold targets laid out … [Read more...]
A Microbial Melting Pot – The Mekong Region and Antimalarial Resistance
The history of treating malaria with herbal and other plant-derived compounds stretches back centuries. In modern times, some of these remedies have been proven to contain potent chemical compounds for fighting malaria, and have been developed into a pharmaceutical arsenal of treatments. However, in the last half century, the war has turned more into an arms race. The malaria parasite - and in … [Read more...]