elimination

A perspective article carrying the above title appeared in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene this month. As it was freely accessible I have taken the liberty to attach it to this editorial (hoping the publisher will not come after me...) for those of you that have not seen it. 

The editors of the open access general medical journal PLoS Medicine are delighted to announce the publication of a collection of 12 reviews, comprising three reflective pieces and nine research and development agendas, as part of a sponsored Supplement. The Collection comprises the output of countless hours of discussion and debate by those involved in the malERA initiative and we hope that by publishing this Collection better transparency in defining research priorities will be achieved for malariologists around the world. The articles also provide fascinating insights into what the selected malaria experts who took part agree are the priority research themes that must be tackled in order to eradicate malaria.   

Chris Blattman is an Assistant Professor of Political Science & Economics at Yale University. He uses field work and statistics to study poverty, political participation, the causes and consequences of violence, and policy in developing countries. Read his website here. I invited Chris to post his blog on malaria on the MW platform, shown below.

Yesterday I gave a talk for the Dialogues house in Amsterdam, which is affiliated to the ABN-AMRO Bank. The audience consisted of people that have no background or experience in malaria. But something funny happened there...

As part of the TH!NK3 blogging competition 'Developing World', I wrote an article last week titled 'The man who saved Brazil'. It was the 11th article I wrote for this endeavour, and I see it as my most important one till now. It is the one I sincerely hope you will read. And let me know how you feel about it.

The current enthusiasm for malaria control in Africa will bring us much closer to our goal if we build on the successes of the past, and avoid repeating the mistakes. The major mistake in the global Malaria Eradication Program of 1955 was to embark on an unsustainable strategy, which collapsed within a decade. We need to ensure that current strategies do not repeat this mistake.