Malaria News and Research

Latest Malaria News and Research

Vanderbilt to develop low-cost extraction device for people in resource-poor settings

They call it "The Extractionator." The prototype looks like nothing more than a length of clear plastic tubing until you inspect it closely. But it could be the basis of an easy-to-use and low-cost sample collection and preparation system that will help bring the benefits of medical diagnostic testing to the people who live in the poorest areas of the world.

17 Dec 2011

Global health aid continues to grow despite recession, report indicates

"Spending to improve health in developing countries has continued to grow during the three-year economic downturn, although at only half the blistering pace it did a decade ago," according to a report by researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the Washington Post reports.

16 Dec 2011

Global Fund releases 'Information Note' on Transitional Funding Mechanism

The Center for Global Health Policy's "ScienceSpeaks" blog reports on a recently released "Information Note" from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria "explaining the Transitional Funding Mechanism (TFM) that the Fund Board recently decided would replace a Round 11 funding cycle.

16 Dec 2011

AP examines WHO target of reducing malaria deaths to near zero by 2015

The Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle examines what it will take for the WHO to reach its new target of reducing malaria deaths to near zero by the end of 2015 and how "some experts questioned if WHO should be setting such lofty goals, especially at a time of declining funding."

16 Dec 2011

Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges to develop new diagnostics for tropical diseases

Grand Challenges Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have teamed up on an unprecedented global effort to discover and develop affordable, easy-to-use tools to help developing country health workers rapidly diagnose diseases in rural communities. The expected result: more timely and appropriate treatment of illnesses in poor countries, potentially saving countless lives.

16 Dec 2011

Antimalarial drugs administered during pregnancy safer than contracting malaria, study suggests

"Antimalarial drugs are safer for pregnant women than contracting the disease," according to a study from the University of Oxford published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases on Tuesday that "assessed the effects of malaria and its treatment in the first trimester of pregnancy," HealthCanal.com reports.

16 Dec 2011

Goal of near-zero malaria deaths attainable with continued will, resources

In this TIME "Ideas" opinion piece, David Bowen, CEO of Malaria No More, writes that with the right resources and political will, an end to malaria is possible.

15 Dec 2011

Malaria mortality rates down, but progress threatened by funding shortfall, WHO report says

"Malaria mortality rates have fallen by more than 25 percent globally since 2000, and by 33 percent in the WHO African Region, according to the World Malaria Report 2011, issued Tuesday by the WHO," the organization reports in a press release.

15 Dec 2011

Central African Republic in state of 'chronic medical emergency,' MSF report says

"The Central African Republic (CAR) is in the grips of a chronic medical emergency, according to a report released today by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)," an MSF press release states.

14 Dec 2011

Researchers discover how bloodstream malaria infection manipulates immune system

University of Iowa researchers and colleagues have discovered how malaria manipulates the immune system to allow the parasite to persist in the bloodstream. By rescuing this immune system pathway, the research team was able to cure mice of bloodstream malaria infections.

13 Dec 2011

'Twinning' team approach improves pediatric lymphoma outcomes

In an African county lacking any specialists in children's cancers, a team approach that "twins" Rwandan physicians with Boston-based pediatric oncologists has shown it can deliver expert, curative care to young patients stricken with lymphoma.

13 Dec 2011

Supply chain map could help improve access to anti-malarial drugs

The problems of archaic logistics infrastructure, inefficient distribution channels and disruptive black markets must all be addressed urgently if Africa is to cope with the growing problem of malaria, according to a study published in the International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management.

13 Dec 2011

Progress in AIDS fight in peril as governments renege on funding pledges

In this Toronto Star opinion piece, Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, and Nicci Stein, executive director of the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development, discuss how progress made in the fight against HIV/AIDS over the last 30 years "is in peril, due to governments reneging on repeated promises to fund the fight against the pandemic."

9 Dec 2011

New pediatric formula for Chagas disease treatment developed in Brazil

"A new pediatric formulation developed in Brazil holds out hope for a cure for over 90 percent of newborn babies infected with Chagas disease, a parasitic infection endemic in 21 Latin American countries, where it kills more people every year than malaria," Inter Press Service reports.

9 Dec 2011

MSU researcher uses MRI to unlock how cerebral malaria damages brain

Building on a quarter century of work in Malawi, a Michigan State University researcher is traveling to neighboring Zambia to perform MRI scans on children newly diagnosed with cerebral malaria in hopes of unlocking how it damages the brain.

9 Dec 2011

Nighttime-lights imagery can pinpoint disease hotspots

Normally used to spot where people live, satellite images of nighttime lights can help keep tabs on the diseases festering among them, too, according to new research.

9 Dec 2011

Toxins in Danish mushroom are effective against cancer cells

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have explored the active principles of a Danish mushroom and found that some of the substances it contains are particularly toxic towards cancer cells. The goal is to synthesise and refine substances in the mushroom that may be useful in future drug development.

9 Dec 2011

House hearing on malaria progress, challenges

This post in the "Malaria Policy Center" blog describes a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, titled "Fighting Malaria: Progress and Challenges," that was held on Monday.

8 Dec 2011

BCX4945 proves effective at clearing malaria infections

An antimalarial agent developed by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University proved effective at clearing infections caused by the malaria parasite most lethal to humans - by literally starving the parasites to death. The novel research, carried out on a small number of non-human primates, could bolster efforts to develop more potent therapies against one of the world's leading killers.

8 Dec 2011

ISARIC aims to prepare clinical research community for next influenza pandemic

An international consortium aimed at ensuring that the clinical research community is better prepared for the next influenza pandemic or other rapidly emerging public health threat is launched today by leading funders of medical research from across the globe.

8 Dec 2011