topnaman | Malaria blog

Today is world malaria day. It’s a day of advocacy and reflection. We have powerful tools against malaria (IRS, ITNs, combination therapies) and the disease is once again in the public eye. Thus, despite the challenges – which are both numerous and profound, a powerful sense of optimism remains. Let us seize the opportunity.

The answer is two according to Ministry of Health officials as reported by AllAfrica.com. Now, no one (hopefully) believes only two deaths have occurred and yet the figure is presented as fact. This is either a case of imprecise language on the part of a public health official or bad reporting by the news outlet. [...]

When Melinda Gates ushered the eradication word at a meeting last October, she certainly took the malaria community by surprise. The New York Times examines the reaction to the Gates Foundation’s goal in which responses to eradication have ranged from “audacious” to “foolhardy”. Given the history of malaria eradication, many are skeptical. The previous attempt [...]

The KEMRI-Oxford group has published a new map of malaria transmission. This is a terrific accomplishment providing a global picture of falciparum malaria and answers some basic questions: where is malaria a risk and how intense is that risk? Using results from 4,278 surveys, the researchers found approximately 2.37 billion people live in areas at [...]