topnaman | Malaria blog

It’s world malaria day. In the past year, a combination of sources (papers, program reports, routine surveillance, and stories from workers) suggest malaria cases and deaths are falling in many places. That’s good news indeed.

I get a lot of emails about malaria and other global health events. Here’s a recent one that may be of some interest to those living near Washington, DC: Malaria in the America Forum 2009: “Counting Malaria Out” towards the 2010 targets and the UN Millennium Development Goals. Friday, November 6, 2009 1:00pm – 4:30pm [...]

The African Leaders Malaria Alliance announced during the United Nations general assembly claims it is “the first Head of State-level assembly expressly dedicated to ending deaths from the disease.” Is it just me or does this simply happen every ten years or so? If you also feel a sense of déjà vu it probably stems [...]

Sometimes I hate advocates. Anything which smacks of “my disease is more important than yours” is a great way for me to stop listening. Nicholas Kristoff’s blog post on pneumonia importantly highlights the large disease burden and the relatively scant public attention. However, the solution is not to have a world pneumonia day. Nor do [...]

Today is World Malaria Day. Many more people are aware of this fact in 2009 with the increase in advocacy, particularly  in the Western world. Some would say malaria is now “hip”. For others, that’s as much a cause for concern as it is for celebration. In any case I’ll certainly take a minute today [...]

I’m an author on an editorial in this month’s Bulletin of the World Health Organization on communicable diseases in Southeast Asia. Excerpts: Multidrug-resistant malaria, including artemisinin resistance at the border of Cambodia and Thailand, threatens to jeopardize the provision of effective antimalarial treatment worldwide… A theme issue of the Bulletin will provide a forum for [...]

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.

Ray Chambers, a successful US businessman and philanthropist, was named the UN special envoy for malaria by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Chambers has been charged with a monumental task – to raise $8-$10 billion dollars for malaria control over the next five years and bring malaria mortality as close to zero as possible. Such grand, [...]