Expert Blogs

The openness of scientists involved in the creation of genetic control methods against mosquitoes has been questioned in popular press and activist outlets. Therefore the results of a recent survey on this subject deserve attention. Do scientists want to conduct their research without oversight and public engagement?
 

Behind the scenes at MalariaWorld, we keep a close eye on where our site visitors originate from. Nothing secretive (and we don't see names, so do not worry!), it's just Google analytics that I receive every single week.

The article below was contributed by journalist Ntaryike Divine Jr. (Douala, Cameroon) as part of the SjCOOP project in collaboration with MalariaWorld.
 
On August 20 2011 amid bloated pomp, Cameroon’s Prime Minister Philemon Yang flagged off a countrywide government campaign to distribute over 8.6 million long lasting insecticidal mosquito bednets gratis.  But the operation that was initially slated to span a dozen days from 8 to 20 September is yet to take off in six of the country’s ten administrative regions.

Today Roll Back Malaria published a 'Leadership Interview' with Dr. Newman, Director of WHO's Global Malaria Programme and Mr. Brandling-Bennett, Deputy Director of the malaria programme at the Gates Foundation. For the full interview, see here. This interview marks an important development: WHO declares that the Millennium Development Goal's target of zero deaths by the year 2015 'was a wildly ambitious goal'. Are we seeing the first cracks in the promises made at the beginning of this millennium?

Hoffmann et al. recently reported a highly noteworthy establishment of Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti in two Australian towns. With the potential to greatly reduce the dengue risk in these communities, this bio-control is a remarkable demonstration of the potential for heritable factors to interfere with disease. The project is off to a great start. The big question is, can the technology finish the race? And how much push will be required to make it happen? I’ll make my prediction about where this is headed.

The past few weeks have been good for the press when it gets to malaria. First they discovered what many of us knew all along: that resistance to pyrethroids is on the rise and may jeopardise the usefulness of LLINs. Then they marvelled at the 'outbreak' in Greece, where six were diagnosed with P. vivax malaria without ever having left the country. And this week's high is the story that mosquito numbers in Africa are dropping for some mysterious reason. The more money that goes into malaria research, the more scientists are coming out with remarkable findings, and the press gulps it up and make the stories ever more gripping. Which I understand...

Sometimes you come across articles that blow your mind. You read them and feel your heartbeat increasing. Each sentence you finish makes you wonder more what is going on here. What the politics are, who's really behind it, and what the goal of it is....

The article below was contributed by journalist Ntaryike Divine Jr. (Douala, Cameroon) as part of the SjCOOP project in collaboration with MalariaWorld.

For several years, bednets and insecticide spraying have served as priority weapons in the fight against malaria transmission across Africa.  However, the defiant vampire vectors and malaria parasites in their mad quests for survival have regularly altered tactics, formulating resistance to insecticides and even drugs to maintain their claim on human lives. 

The article below was contributed by journalist Ntaryike Divine Jr. (Douala, Cameroon) as part of the SjCOOP project in collaboration with MalariaWorld.

The article below was contributed by journalist Leocadia Bongben (Cameroon) as part of the SjCOOP project in collaboration with MalariaWorld.

An international alliance of malaria scientists, whose secretariat has roved around the planet until now, is planning to settle down permanently in Yaoundé.  

The Multilateral Initiative for Malaria (MIM), established in 1997, was previously headquartered in London, Washington, Stockholm and Dar es Salaam.

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.