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Abstract
BackgroundThough many countries, including China, are moving towards malaria elimination, malaria remains a major global health threat. Due to the spread of antimalarial drug resistance and the need for innovative medical products during the elimination phase, further research and development (R&D) of innovative tools in both epidemic and elimination areas is needed. This study aims to identify the trends and gaps in malaria R&D in China, and aims to offer suggestions on how China can be more effectively involved in global malaria R&D.MethodsQuantitative analysis was carried out by collecting data on Chinese malaria-related research programmes between 1985 and 2014, invention patents in China from 1985 to 2014, and articles published by Chinese researchers in PubMed and Chinese databases from 2005 to 2014. All data were screened and extracted for numerical analysis and were categorized into basic sciences, drug/drug resistance, immunology/vaccines, or diagnostics/detection for chronological and subgroup comparisons.ResultsThe number of malaria R&D activities have shown a trend of increase during the past 30 years, however these activities have fluctuated within the past few years. During the past 10 years, R&D on drug/drug resistance accounted for the highest percentages of research programmes (32.4%), articles (55.0% in PubMed and 50.6% in Chinese databases) and patents (45.5%). However, these R&D activities were mainly related to artemisinin. R&D on immunology/vaccines has been a continuous interest for China’s public entities, but the focus remains on basic science. R&D in the area of high-efficiency diagnostics has been rarely seen or reported in China.ConclusionsChina has long been devoted to malaria R&D in multiple areas, including drugs, drug resistance, immunology and vaccines. R&D on diagnostics has received significantly less attention, however, it should also be an area where China can make a contribution. More focus on malaria R&D is needed, especially in the area of diagnostics, if China would like to contribute in a more significant way to global malaria control and elimination.
Highlights
Though many countries, including China, are moving towards malaria elimination, malaria remains a major global health threat
Data sources and extraction Research articles A systematic search of articles published between January 1st, 2005 and December 31st, 2014 was conducted using PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang databases to identify malaria research and development (R&D) studies done by researchers in China
Our results indicated imbalanced malaria-related R&D activities among different categories in China, with most reported activities focused on antimalarial drugs and fewer related to diagnostics
Summary
Though many countries, including China, are moving towards malaria elimination, malaria remains a major global health threat. Due to the spread of antimalarial drug resistance and the need for innovative medical products during the elimination phase, further research and development (R&D) of innovative tools in both epidemic and elimination areas is needed. Though many countries, including China, are moving towards malaria elimination, further research is still necessary, in the areas of diagnostics, monitoring, evaluation and surveillance [3, 4]. Emerging challenges, such as artemisinin resistance and workforce migration could precipitate new epidemics [5]. Novel drugs are needed to prepare for the possibility of widespread artemisinin resistance, especially in vulnerable populations such as children and pregnant women
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