Time to deliver zero malaria: invest, innovate, implement
Marking World Malaria Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) is issuing a call for increased implementation of new and existing interventions to save lives from malaria.
Nearly 1.5 million children at high risk of illness and death from malaria in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have now received their first dose of the first malaria vaccine, RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S), thanks to an ongoing pilot programme coordinated by WHO.
The malaria vaccine pilots, launched in 2019, are increasing equity in access to malaria prevention for the most vulnerable and are saving lives.
If implemented broadly, WHO estimates that malaria vaccines could save the lives of tens of thousands of children each year.
“We have the tools to drive down malaria, a package of interventions that includes vector control, preventive medicines, testing, and treatment,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “These are joined by a safe and effective malaria vaccine, which could save the lives of tens of thousands children every year.
With sustained investment and scaled-up efforts to reach those most at risk, malaria elimination in many countries is in reach."
World Malaria Day 2023 is being marked under the theme “Time to deliver zero malaria: invest, innovate, implement”.
Within this theme, WHO is urging more effective implementation of available tools and strategies to prevent, diagnose and treat malaria, particularly among marginalized populations.
According to the latest World malaria report, published in December 2022, there were an estimated 247 million new cases of malaria in 2021.
The WHO African Region continues to shoulder the heaviest burden of the disease – accounting for an estimated 95% of all malaria cases (234 million) and 96% of all deaths (593 000) in 2021.
Nearly 80% of malaria deaths in the African Region were among children under the age of five.
Experiences from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines and Viet Nam
Implementation research studies supported by TDR’s Impact Grants for Regional Priorities are investigating a range of virtual and mobile health tools and services.
These include smart phone applications (apps) to encourage and track medicines adherence by patients, and e-learning and e-health platforms that help healthcare professionals in remote areas easily exchange diagnosis and treatment information with their peers so as to give timely and precise treatment.
The research was carried by teams from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines and Viet Nam. Each of the studies involves healthcare professionals interacting with a digital tool aimed at helping improve quality of care and boosting the health system’s efficiency.
Study findings offer expertise, tools and proof of concept for e-health approaches that can be shared with public health teams in other countries.
The research team directed by Eustache Muteba, an Academic researcher, has implemented a web-based medical decision support system – the Virtual Community of Healthcare Facilities (VHCF).
It addresses malaria case management – consisting of early diagnosis and prompt, effective treatment.
This is the core of malaria control and elimination strategies.
In low-income countries (such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo) a specific challenge for public health professionals is how to accurately distinguish malaria symptoms from other febrile illnesses with similar characteristics. To help address this lack of expertise, and improve access to malaria diagnostic tools, we have designed the Virtual Community of Healthcare Facilities platform, an e-health platform that aims to give healthcare professionals in remote areas better access to quality information and expertise.
TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases.
More specifically, by anchoring science in human rights we contribute to:
The MOOC had the following objectives:
• promoting the adoption of a human rights-based approach (HRBA), including the mainstreaming of gender equality, to scientific freedom and scientific responsibility by scientists and policymakers
• building capacity on a HRBA to scientific freedom and scientific responsibility among scientific researchers and policymakers, including women scientists and young researchers, by harnessing the
complementary expertise and resources of UNESCO and the Global Campus
• to increase awareness about the connections between human rights, and the right to science in particular, scientific freedom and scientific responsibility, drawing inter alia on General Comment N.25 and the
Recommendation on science and scientific researchers
• to highlight, by making reference to available data, the need to link science and human rights, including gender equality, in accelerating progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
• to share robust knowledge on human rights principles, standards and practices in a free, open and user-friendly way
• to empower scientists, students of science, and policymakers through education on the HRBA to scientific freedom and responsibility
• to amplify dialogue on the relationships between human rights, ethics and law in the field of science
Global Campus of Human Rights, February 2023.
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