SUMMARY OF RECENT AFRICAN MALARIA DIALOGUE at BENTLEY UNIVERSITY on 21 MAY 2013
Fifteen of us attended from Bentley, BU, Yale, Harvard and MIT, and from Ghana, Sudan, Nigeria, Canada and US. Derek Willis from Columbia U also joined us via Skype.
The Makerere University at Kampala has been able to demonstrate over the recent years that the regular consumption of Artemisia annua tea may lead to a strong preventive effect against malaria. ( PE Ogwang et al., Trop J Pharmac Res, 2012,13:3, 445-453; PE Ogwang et al., Brit J Pharmac Res 201, 1 :4, 124.132). This research effort sponsored by government of Uganda and Carnegie corporation USA, has led to the development of drug called Artavol® which is now available in pharmacies in Uganda. This product contains ingredients from three medicinal herbs.
Last week we saw a lot of action in the press with regard to the trial that was conducted in Uganda with the so-called miracle drug MMS. Read more on this story in a blog from Pepijn van Erp (here) and comments below. This is truly amazing, that such a thing can happen in 2013.
It is even more amazing that whilst on a tour through the Central African Republic two staff from Drive Against Malaria were taken hostage by rebels and escaped being murdered. This shows how difficult the battle against malaria can get. Read the full story here.
The 'Fake Drugs Kill' campaign is gaining momentum, slowly but surely. This week the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene distributed information about the petition to all its members, which we are truly grateful for. If you are a member of an organisation, please consider doing the same. Read more here.
This week the world malaria report 2012 came out as hard copy and can be purchased. Find out more here.
CropLife International released a compendium of vector control resources. Read all about it (and download) it here.
Finally, an interesting post-doc position at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. If you have a PhD in Biomedical sciences and have experience with in vivo and in vitro experimental models for drug discovery/development, this may be just what you were looking for. Read the details here.
Enjoy this week's MalariaWorld - the MW team
Many of us work in laboratories where we study the intricacies of malaria. Where we study parasites and mosquitoes and where we develop new approaches that hopefully one day will help to reduce the malaria burden. Few of us, however, have worked in the trenches to combat malaria in the real world out there. Even fewer of us have dared to venture into places that are torn apart by civil unrest or war and do something about malaria there. We know of organisations like Doctors without Borders (MSF) but there are also people out there that risk their lives to accomplish nothing more exciting than to distribute bednets and anti-malarial drugs in remote parts of Africa that are at best unsafe.
Just recently, former TV icon Julia Samuel (Netherlands) and David Robertson (UK), who have been working for the Drive Against Malaria Foundation for years, were taken hostage in the Central African Republic by Seleka rebels. For days they were threatened at gunpoint and told that they would be killed. Miraculously, they managed to escape and make it back safely to Cameroon. Julia's story is remarkable. Whilst having a great career with Dutch TV she developed breast cancer, survived it, and then decided to devote her life to doing good. She chose malaria as her target. What does the above tell us and what are the lessons to be learned from this recent kidnapping?
I was wondering if any of your friends has sent you this link and asked you why we don't want the MMS miracle to be spread around... I'm still confused, not knowing if I should laugh or cry. But I'm inclined to cry...
Two competing chemotypes.
Already twenty years ago the possibility of two chemotypes for Artemisia annua had been suggested ( HJ Woerdenbag et al., Flavour and Fragrance Journal 8, 1993, 131-137) distinguishing between a Chinese and a Vietnamese chemotype, the former containing 0.17 artemisinin, the latter 1.0%.
D Fulzele et al. ( Phytotherapy Research , 5, 1991, 149-153) found that plants from Europe produced the highest level of artemisin and those from Lucknow produced the highest level of arteannuin-B.
Why not let MalariaWorld play a vital role in supporting ground breaking studies that often lack the preliminary ecological field data, required by traditional funders?
We, as dedicated scientists, can assemble a global bank of preliminary scientific field data for “high risk” project proposals to open new directions within malaria research. In doing so, young scientists are able to test creative ideas ahead of time and more experienced scientists are able to explore unexpected and promising observations or discoveries.
Today, 25 April marks World Malaria Day.
It is a day to reflect back on the progress that has been made in combating malaria around the globe and to contemplate future directions for research and control efforts to curb the impact and spread of this fully preventable and treatable disease that affects millions of lives on a daily basis. Let’s spare a thought for the countless lives that have been lost to this disease, and for the millions of people whose lives are affected at this very moment. May 2013 see more victories than defeats in the global fight against Malaria!
Today is World Malaria Day, and we are proud to announce the start of the campaign 'Fake Drugs Kill', an initiative of the Dutch Malaria Foundation that also manages the MalariaWorld online platform.
As a malaria professional, you are probably aware of the unfolding tragedy with counterfeit drugs. Either completely fake (drugs containing nothing more than chalk, washing powder, or even brake fluid) or substandard (not containing enough active ingredient) or outdated drugs are flooding the African market on an ever-increasing scale.
Experts like Professors Paul Newton and Nick White have been ringing the alarm bells for years, but in spite of their efforts the problem is getting worse by the day. Read 'Phake', the excellent book on the subject by Roger Bate, and you will appreciate how serious the situation has become...
This Guest Editorial was written by Sir Richard Feachem. Dr. Feachem, PhD, DSc(Med) is Director of the Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco. From 2002 to 2007, Sir Richard served as founding Executive Director of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Under Secretary General of the United Nations.
MalariaWorld is proud to have sponsored the Malaria Photo Contest that was organised by the Swiss Malaria Group. The winners were announced today in the following media release...
Harvard University organised a mini-symposium on malaria on 5 April titled 'Defeating malaria, from the genes to the globe'. It was the first in a series examining global public health problems like malaria. Noteworthy in that regard are the views that were expressed during this symposium regarding the malaria situation on Zanzibar. Assistant Professor Jessica Cohen, who reportedly advised the government of Zanzibar on how to move forward with its fight against malaria made some pretty remarkable statements.
Cohen's predictions showed that malaria on Zanzibar could be eliminated in just 5 years if everyone on the island (more than a million people) would sleep under bednets. Moreover, she noted that if 'only' 65% of the population would use nets, it would take 22 years. The bad news followed: If usage rates drop to 50% she predicted an increase in prevalence to 5% in just 3 months, up from the 2% prevalence now. Worse, if it dropped to just 35%, malaria would strike back and prevalence would rise to 18% in just 3 months.
She concluded that 'these gains can be erased in months'...
The following article was published in SLATE Magazine on April 4 by Brendan Borrell. Our association IFBV-BELHERB from Luxembourg is glad to read that some independent voices recognize the merit of Artemisia annua herbal medicine and proud to see that through R&D at their universities Africans will find their own solutions in the fight against tropical diseases. Hereafter excerpts from the paper. The full text is available at www.slate.com/.../wormwood_tea_to_treat_malaria
With many thousands of visitors to MalariaWorld each week, we wondered why only few of you ever comment on articles, blogs, forums, etc. After all, we hope that MalariaWorld becomes a '2-way' platform, where we not only provide you with professional information on malaria, but also like to have your input, thoughts, dreams, worries, etc.
It’s a useful reminder to consider what one must have for successful genetic control strains for mosquitoes. While the focus is often on effectors for specific population manipulations, there are other bits “under the hood” that, like an engine, can’t really be ignored. It’s easy to forget how necessary these are when concentrating on something novel. I’ll give you my bare-bones list of basic genetic control features that sooner or later, you simply must have.
A member counter has been placed on MalariaWorld, showing the number of active members who actually log-in to our platform. This is a dynamic counter, which means that every new account will add up immediately. The counter shows on the front page just below the large banners (see screenshot below). On other pages you'll find it just below the blue main menu bar.
If you have any suggestions or comments please don't hesitate to contact the MalariaWorld Team.
Hope you enjoy it
Please join us this week, April 1-5, 2013, in a virtual expert panel to discuss current state and future configuration of anti-vector interventions designed to prevent malaria transmission through the suppression of anopheline mosquito vectors.
Four years ago, in 2009, I wrote an article for a Dutch newspaper (Bionieuws) with the title 'It is not yet time for a party on Zanzibar'. My article was a response to Tachi Yamada's blog on CNN 'Where have all the malaria patients gone?'. Yamada at that time was touring the spice island together with Ray Chambers and Margret Chan, and for sure their trip must have been pleasant and satisfying. After all, the renewed impetus (largely through the US Presidential Malaria Initiative) in malaria control was starting to pay off. Indoor residual spraying and massive distribution of LLINs yielded a spectacular decline in malaria prevalence. Yamada ends his commentary with a pretty strong statement...
The contest is now open for votes!
Since the start of the contest on 15 February, photos that tell stories about malaria have been flooding in. We have over 700 stunning entries. Now we would like YOU to select the finalists.
Uganda Science Festival . African approaches against tropical diseases.
Listen to Dr Patrick Ogwang on BBC World Service, London Focus on Africa (radio) on Mar 28 3.30-5-30PM
Dear Moussa. Thank you very much for the opportunity to discuss science in Africa. I strongly believe that Africa must set her science agenda if we are to benefit from science. Why? For the following reasons;
In a blog on LinkedIn yesterday, Ray Chambers, the Special Envoy for Malaria to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, sent out a public statement titled 'Saving the lives of 4 million children in 1000 days'. Making reference to the fact that the Millennium Development Goals end by December 2015, Chambers still holds the conviction that we can bring malaria mortality down to zero by the end of 2015. He asserts that the key players to accomplish this are in place, that the solution is simple and not expensive, and that we should do this. It sounds great - and given the comments under his blog ('Inspiring', 'Absolutely will join in an effort to save children', 'Few things could be more important') Chambers will certainly reach the goal of drawing more attention to malaria. Indeed, if you're not familiar with the malaria world, than it simply sounds outrageous that the world has not succeeded in putting every soul under a net in endemic settings, that we have not eliminated malaria in the south just like we did in the north half a Century ago, and that evidence (ca. 1 million deaths averted) over the last decade has clearly shown that we CAN save many lives. But is this realistic?
The Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) met for its fifth annual meeting in Bali, Indonesia from March 4 to 7, 2013.
The ethnobotanical use of this flavone includes applications in the treatment of cough, diarrhea, dysentery, diabetes, cancer and malaria.
Are you looking for a new job in the field of malaria or do you know someone who is? then this may interest you: There are 2 vacancies at the ACT consortium: (1) ACT Consortium Technical Communications Officer (closing date 22 March 2013), and (2) ACT Consortium Policy Liaison Coordinator (closing date 20 March 2013).
This morning I opened the newspaper and read about the breakthrough in science that we now have the complete biochemical 'routemap' of man, us. A few days ago I read an article about rats being capable of training other rats through electrical brain signals. Scientific developments are ongoing at an unprecedented speed - we live in exciting times.
This week I attended the 79th annual meeting of the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA), which was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.The 'early registration deadline' is July 31th. After this date the regular registration fees apply. Find more information about registration and fees here.
