Search
Half of all pregnancies at risk of malaria worldwide occur in the Asia-Pacific region, where Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax co-exist. Despite substantial reductions in transmission, malaria remains an important cause of adverse health outcomes for mothers and offspring, including pre-eclampsia. Malaria transmission is heterogeneous, and infections are commonly subpatent and asymptomatic.
In high-transmission areas, school-aged children have higher malaria prevalence and contribute significantly to the transmission reservoir. Malaria infections can be asymptomatic or present with symptoms which may contribute to anaemia, severe illness and fatal malaria. This analysis provides trends of malaria prevalence and associated risk factors among school-aged children in mainland Tanzania.
The World Health Organization recommends perennial malaria chemoprevention (PMC), generally using sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) to children at high risk of severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Currently, PMC is given up to age two in perennial transmission settings. However, no recommendation exists for perennial settings with seasonal variation in transmission intensity, recently categorized as 'sub-perennial'.
Novel malaria vector control strategies targeting the odour-orientation of mosquitoes during host-seeking, such as 'attract-and-kill' or 'push-and-pull', have been suggested as complementary tools to indoor residual spraying and long-lasting insecticidal nets. These would be particularly beneficial if they can target vectors in the peri-domestic space where people are unprotected by traditional interventions.
Malaria is a focal disease and more localized in low endemic areas. The disease is increasingly becoming a concern in urban areas in most sub-Saharan African countries. The growing threats of Anopheles stephensi and insecticide resistance magnify this concern and hamper elimination efforts. It is, therefore, imperative to identify areas, within urban settings, of high-risk of malaria to help better target interventions.
New malaria vaccine development builds on groundbreaking recommendations and roll-out of two approved pre-erythrocytic vaccines (PEVs); RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix-M. Whilst these vaccines are effective in reducing childhood malaria within yearly routine immunization programs or seasonal vaccination, there is little evidence on how different PEV efficacies, durations of protection, and spacing between doses influence the potential to avert uncomplicated and severe childhood malaria.
World-first research from The Kids Research Institute Australia and Curtin University predicts climate change could trigger more than 100 million additional malaria cases and 500,000 additional deaths in Africa by 2050, including substantial impacts on children.
Research to eliminate one of the world’s deadliest diseases – malaria – will be accelerated thanks to a USD $4.7 million grant from the Gates Foundation for scientists at The Kids Research Institute Australia and The University of Western Australia (UWA).
The Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) – which houses the world’s largest malaria database and is at the forefront of efforts to track and tackle the disease – has been awarded more than $16 million by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Disruptions of malaria case management caused by the COVID-19 pandemic likely contributed to an extra 76,000 malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, according to analysis by The Kids Research Institute Australia and Curtin University.