Malaria News PacMI |
Malaria science and news via web, twitter, RSS and now an email digest 
The Pacific Malaria Initiative Support Centre (PacMISC) has just posted the two thousandth article on the latest malaria news and science. The articles are a collection of news and science gathered from over 150 sources including the Malaria Journal, PLoS, Nature, Journal of Infectious Diseases and Science. The collection officially started in April 2009 with the opening of the PacMISC website but includes a small selection of articles dating back to 2000.
PacMISC produces a weekly "This Week in Malaria" email newsletter which is a digest of the malaria news and scientific articles posted during the week. You can sign up to receive the weekly email from the PacMISC web site. |
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Research Grant Program Launched for Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network 
The Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) today, 25th June, is launching the APMEN Research Grant Program, which aims to assist in the development of new tools and measures to eliminate malaria in the Asia Pacific region. The Network is composed of 10 countries working to eliminate malaria (Bhutan, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, and Vanuatu) along with partner and research institutions in the region, including WHO.
In this inaugural funding round, grants will focus on the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax, whose persistent liver stage makes it less vulnerable to elimination efforts. Proposals for short-term operational research or a scientific evaluation of an existing program can be submitted from individuals or organisations from the ten APMEN countries and must be endorsed by their National Malaria Control Program. These research grants will also strengthen the exchanges and lesson sharing between APMEN Countries and Partner Institutions in the region and are made possible with support from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).
Further information regarding the APMEN Research Grant Program can be viewed at www.apmen.org.
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Malaria elimination feasibility assessment 
Due to the recent success that Zanzibar has achieved in reducing its malaria burden, the Zanzibar Malaria Control Program, along with technical advice from local and international experts including many MEG members, conducted an assessment to determine the technical, operational and financial feasibility of eliminating malaria. Results of the assessment and recommendations on a way forward were recently presented to the Zanzibar Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
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Using serological measures to monitor changes in malaria transmission in Vanuatu 
With renewed interest in malaria elimination, island environments present unique opportunities to achieve this goal. However, as transmission decreases, monitoring and evaluation programmes need increasingly sensitive tools to assess Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax exposure. In 2009, to assess the role of serological markers in evaluating malaria transmission, a cross-sectional seroprevalence study was carried out in Tanna and Aneityum, two of the southernmost islands of the Vanuatu archipelago, areas where malaria transmission has been variably reduced over the past few decades. Seroepidemiology can provide key information on malaria transmission for control programmes, when parasite rates are low. As Vanuatu moves closer to malaria elimination, monitoring changes in transmission intensity and identification of residual malaria foci is paramount in order to concentrate intervention efforts.
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A moment of truth for global health 
A cross cutting approach is needed to meet the challenges of the global financial crisis
The past decade has been a "golden window" for global health. New disease specific health initiatives and major new funding programmes have contributed to impressive gains. In 2008, for example, 10 000 fewer children were dying each day than in 1990. But there are disturbing signs that the window may be closing.
Donor agencies have warned African countries that financial help for HIV treatment programmes cannot be assured.1 The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI Alliance) face serious funding shortfalls. The Spanish government just announced that it will cut foreign aid by 600m Euro (AU$873m) as part of its austerity measures, and other donor governments seem likely to follow suit. Without sustained funding to strengthen the fragile health infrastructure of developing countries, the millennium development goals are unlikely to be reached.
How will the global health community respond? One risk is that the various sub-communities, or silos, such as those working on HIV, malaria, vaccines, or health systems, will advocate and compete for their own stake in the shrinking pot of donor money.
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Baseline spatial distribution of malaria prior to an elimination programme in Vanuatu
The Ministry of Health in the Republic of Vanuatu has implemented a malaria elimination programme in Tafea Province, the most southern and eastern limit of malaria transmission in the South West Pacific. Tafea Province is comprised of five islands with malaria elimination achieved on one of these islands (Aneityum) in 1998. The current study aimed to establish the baseline distribution of malaria on the most malarious of the province's islands, Tanna Island, to guide the implementation of elimination activities.
Malaria in Tanna Island, Vanuatu, has a focal and predominantly coastal distribution. As Vanuatu refines its elimination strategy, malaria risk maps represent an invaluable resource in the strategic planning of all levels of malaria interventions for the island.
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Malaria team reports success in Brisbane 
ALBINO Bobogare, Director of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, led a delegation to the Malaria Reference Group Meeting in Brisbane at the beginning of this month.
The Malaria Reference Group is a high-powered group of international experts in the battle against malaria.
It is chaired by Sir Richard Feachem who is head of the Global Health Group, part of the University of San Francisco.
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Malaria elimination in Asia-Pacific: an under-told story 
An oft-cited story describes how Sri Lanka reduced its incidence of malaria from 2.8 million cases in 1946 to a mere 17 in 1963, only to see the rate resurge in subsequent years. Yet, in the past decade, Sri Lanka has brought its annual caseload down from more than 200 000 confirmed cases in 2000 to just 670 cases in 2008, with no deaths due to malaria in more than 2 years. Similarly, in the Philippines, the past decade has seen nine provinces become malaria free, bringing the total to 22 of 81. Eight of 20 malaria-endemic countries in WHO's Western Pacific and Southeast Asia regions achieved declines in annual cases of more than 50% from 2000 to 2008. Success stories such as these reverberate throughout Asia-'Pacific: in this era of renewed commitment to elimination participants gathered in Kandy, Sri Lanka (Feb 16-'19, 2010), for the second annual meeting of the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN).
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