A new research agenda for malaria elimination and eradication is laid out in a collection of review articles, led by Regina Rabinovich and colleagues of the Malaria Eradication Scientific Alliance (MESA), in this week's PLOS Medicine.
This Malaria Eradication Research Agenda (malERA) Refresh Collection includes seven articles outlining a broad interdisciplinary research agenda with the goal of accelerating malaria elimination and, in the longer term, transforming the malaria community's ability to eradicate it globally.
In 2011, the malERA effort published a collection of nine articles that aimed to identify key knowledge gaps and define the strategies and tools that will result in malaria elimination and eradication.
As part of an initiative to review progress and identify emerging challenges of the proposed research agenda, the malERA Refresh consultative process was undertaken in 2016, including 6 panels chaired and co-chaired by experts in the different fields with input from 180 experts engaged in the malaria eradication research.
The articles focus on six keys areas of research including 1) basic science and enabling technologies; 2) combination interventions and modelling; 3) diagnostics, drugs, vaccines and vector control; 4) insecticide and drug resistance; 5) characterizing the reservoir and measuring transmission; and 6) health systems and policy research.
Regina Rabinovich, of MESA, says: "The malERA papers provide a framework for focus for research funders whether government or private; for the World Health Organization, where recommendations on tools and strategies are made; and for each country, which has to make the specific decisions to shape its programs.
" She continues: "The global malaria enterprise remains hugely challenging and transforming the mindset from implementation to problem-solving is an essential task for both the next generation of scientists and program implementers."
Join the Conversation