Financial Times publishes special report on malaria

Apr 26 2013

The Financial Times has published a special report (.pdf) on malaria featuring articles examining issues including prevention, treatment and research and development (R&D).

• More push required in fight against malaria: Though significant progress has been made against malaria, challenges exist for keeping the disease on the agenda as the post-2015 development agenda is discussed (Jack, 4/25).
• Mosquitoes: Protagonists dig deeper in their efforts to crush a complex foe: Scientists are decoding the genetic makeup of malaria to find new ways to prevent and treat the disease (Murray, 4/25).
• Drugs: Researchers seek out man-made alternatives to natural remedies: After years of research, scientists are developing ways to produce artificial versions of natural remedies (Jack, 4/25).
• Science: Yeast process gives rise to research progress: "[S]everal scientific papers and announcements over the past few months have given encouraging indications of new weapons in the battle against malaria," the article states (Cookson, 4/25).
• Bed nets: Supply of vital weapon cries out for raised funding: The scaling-up of programs to deliver bed nets requires more funding, and "all eyes are on the next funding replenishment round of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria," according to the article (Murray, 4/25).
• Seasonal targeting: Protection bid aims at children: A program to prevent malaria in under-five children in Africa has ambitious goals, but funding constraints are holding back progress (Batchelor, 4/25).
• Provision: Private sector role remains elusive: The article examines the demise of the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm) (Jack, 4/25).
• Elimination: Falling impact shifts focus to politics: Malaria elimination requires sustained funding and political support, according to Richard Feachem, head of the global health group at the University of California, San Francisco (Jack, 4/25).
• Vaccines: Test setbacks demonstrate formidable nature of the adversary: The article examines the state of malaria vaccine research (Batchelor, 4/25).
• Insecticides: Efforts to gain control meet resistance: The use of insecticides to destroy malaria-carrying mosquitoes faces regulatory hurdles in many countries (Murray, 4/25).
• Chance discovery: Unintended consequence of ivermectin highlights potential benefits of integration: "Tighter integration of malaria programs with other still more 'neglected tropical diseases' can provide mutual benefit and offer more effective protection against a range of different debilitating diseases," the article states (Jack, 4/25).