topnaman | Malaria blog

Why are disease burden estimates important? There are two sets of reasons: 1) technical, e.g. national priority setting etc and 2) political economy of health, e.g. advocacy and visibility, donor influence, etc. Thus, estimates are often quite contentious apart from the methodology used. The practical applications of burden estimation are on the other hand limited. [...]

The evidence just keeps piling up with this new report from Africa Fighting Malaria and a series of papers in Malaria Journal (1, 2, and 3). Not only is the availability and cost falling short of goals as we’ve discussed (here, here, here and here), the patient-centered outcomes which actually matter, are likely far worse. In addition to flaws [...]

I felt the need for a public reminder because it seems to me that people, such as Smith et al. in this Science piece, are forgetting:  Zanzibar’s early success shows what can be achieved in Africa It’s great, but unsurprising, that Zanzibar has reduced malaria using drugs and vector control tools of known effectiveness. Of [...]

Key to the theory behind antimalarial treatment is understanding the stage-specific actions of drugs and on a related note their mechanisms of action. The life cycle of malaria is complex and most drugs intervene on limited portions of it. I came across this beautiful figure in a 1962 article from the Bulletin of the World [...]

The parasite clearance curve and, the more commonly used, parasite clearance time is a measure of the reduction of parasite density over time or the time until the patient is parasite free, after beginning treatment. Interest in parasite clearance has peaked as a means to gauge artemisinin resistance (previously discussed here and here) as combination therapies [...]

Truly beautiful studies – well designed, well thought, even examined cost and service delivery – were recently conducted for regular, presumptive antimalarial treatment (using SP and amodiaquine) of children in Mali and Burkina Faso in settings where treated bed-nets are already in use (PLoS Medicine – open access!). The intervention was effective at reducing clinical burden – [...]

If next-stage malaria vaccines work (the primary challenge), they are likely to be based on multiple antigens, adjuvants, and other vaccine technology platforms.  Will intellectual property limitations, in the form of competing claims across a number of public and private players (the aptly named patent thicket), impede their development, commercialization, or access? Here’s a neat [...]

Thank you Google Books (also mentioned here). Sir Ronald Ross is quite the entertaining writer – in fact most works of that era are more fun given their first person, narrative styles. A few gems: On gametocytes: Now it is to these gametocytes that an extreme interest attaches, because it is to them, and to [...]

From the WSJ, Sonia Shah author of The Fever (here and here), reviews Lifeblood which chronicles the efforts of Ray Chambers to deliver lots and lots of treated bed-nets to Africa (previously discussed here). I’m mostly sharing this post because I’m a big fan of strong opening and closing sentences and these blew me away: Readers may [...]

 (image credit: Lasker Foundation) Congratulations to Dr Tu Youyou for her well-deserved Lasker award (considered a precursor to the Nobel prize) in clinical sciences (hat tip: Mariam). Dr Youyou recieved the honor for her painstaking work screening traditional Chinese herbs for antimalarial properties as part of military project 523 (more on the military and malaria here). The [...]