Malaria: 2 years in the fast lane

Abstract

World Malaria Day (April 25) is upon us once again. Over the past 2 years, the world has made remarkable advances in malaria. 2 years ago, nobody was mentioning elimination and eradication. Then, on Oct 17, 2007, Bill and Melinda Gates made their famous speech in Seattle, USA, calling for global eradication. 1 Gates B Keynote address presented at Bill & Melinda Gates Malaria Forum, Seattle, Washington. http://www.gatesfoundation.org/speeches-commentary/Pages/bill-gates-malaria-forum.aspxDate: Oct 17, 2007 Google Scholar 1 year ago, there was no consensus on how we would achieve a malaria-free world. Currently, a Global Malaria Action Plan 2 Roll Back MalariaGlobal malaria action plan: for a malaria free world. http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/gmap/index.htmlDate: September, 2008 Google Scholar has been developed under the leadership of Roll Back Malaria, which set out a three-part strategy. First, aggressive control in the malaria heartland to achieve low transmission and mortality in those 61 tropical countries with the highest burden of disease. Second, progressive elimination from the endemic margins inward to shrink the malaria map. Third, research to find a vaccine and better drugs, diagnostics, insecticides, and other tools. Resistance to the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria?Last week, an innovative financing mechanism, the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria ( AMFm ), was officially launched. The AMFm will make the most effective treatment for malaria, artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs), more affordable and so has the potential to save thousands of lives. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will manage the new scheme. Full-Text PDF A vaccine against malaria: a substantial step forwardTwo recent studies by Philip Bejon1 and Salim Abdulla,2 and their respective colleagues, represent an important step towards the development of a malaria vaccine that shows great promise for being deployable in malaria-control programmes. Full-Text PDF Bob Snow: championing malaria in AfricaBob Snow had always been fascinated by Africa. In 1984, at the age of 22 years and having only ever been to the Isle of Wight outside his UK home in Crawley, he took a chance and accepted a position as a medical demographer at the Medical Research Council laboratories in Farafenni, The Gambia . There, Snow worked with Brian Greenwood and so began a successful career working on the worldwide burden and control of malaria. Snow is currently Professor of Tropical Public Health at the University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, and head of the Wellcome Trust-funded Public Health programme at the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya, where he resides. Full-Text PDF