Gathering in Cameroon to present new findings in malaria research and call for urgent Action to subdue Africa's most devastating k

Main Category: Tropical Diseases
Article Date: 13 Sep 2005 - 4:00 PDT

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As malaria deaths remain at alarming levels in Africa - with a child succumbing every 30 seconds and the devastating disease a root cause of the continent's pervasive poverty - an unprecedented gathering will convene in Africa to highlight new findings emerging from the work of Western and African malaria researchers.

In mid-November, 1,500 scientists, policymakers, African ministers, health care workers, community members, and other experts on the diseases will gather in Yaoundé, Cameroon, for the Fourth MIM Pan-African Malaria Conference November 13 - 18 and the Rollback Malaria Partnership's Forum V Global Partners Meeting November 18 - 19. The conferences will collectively highlight an Africa-wide effort to empower communities, battle complacency and eliminate the many barriers that are keeping effective prevention and treatment from reaching the most vulnerable. The Roll Back Malaria Partnership will report on a coordinated plan to reduce malaria deaths in Africa and worldwide. Journalist site visits to research projects in malaria endemic communities will be organized prior to the conference.

This assembly offers a unique opportunity to find in one venue the world's leading experts on all aspects of malaria. Issues to be addressed include:

· New medicines for malaria: With drug resistance spreading, scientists report on new advances in drugs to control malaria.

· Indigenous plants as sources for new anti-malarials: Is there another Artemisia out there? Results of collection and screening efforts for anti-malarial agents in dozens of plants.

· Country level commitment to malaria control: Leadership and ownership are essential if malaria is to become no longer "a fact of life".

· Insecticide treated bed nets: Scientists know they're effective but research reveals a surprising ambivalence toward using them, even when cost is not a factor.

· Malaria vaccine development: Scientists report findings from clinical trials.

· Access to malaria commodities: Scaling up production to ensure 80% coverage with the most effective prevention and treatment in the next two years. Can this be done?

· HIV and malaria: Co-infection poses a major treatment challenge and scientists find evidence that malaria in pregnancy may facilitate fetal HIV transmission.

· Field-based reports from ten countries: Is malaria control working at the community level?

· Malaria and migration to the city: Research on the changing landscape of controlling malaria in an increasingly urbanized Africa.

· Africa's human resource drain: What is the impact of the mounting exodus of health workers and scientists on malaria research and control?

The Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) is an alliance of organizations that was launched following the first Pan-African Malaria Conference in Dakar, Senegal, 1997. The overarching goal is to strengthen African malaria research capabilities.( http://www.mim.su.se)

Roll Back Malaria Partnership was launched in 1998 by WHO, UNICEF, UNDP and the World Bank, and brings together hundreds of partners, including malaria endemic countries, clinicians, researchers and donors around the common goal of halving the global burden of malaria by 2010. (http://www.rollbackmalaria.org), World Malaria Report 2005 http://rbm.who.int/wmr2005/

For further information and to register for the conference and/or site visits in Africa contact:

Cameroon
MIM, Wilfred Mbacham, T +237 757 91 80, wfmbacham@yahoo.com

Africa
Massive Effort London UK, Louis Da Gama, T +44 208 357 7413, M +44 7990 810642, ldagama@gmail.com

Europe, Scandinavia and Asia
Good Company, Maria Dalayman T +46-8-545 805 54, M +46 70 685 40 05, maria@goodcompany.se

France and Belgium
Michel Aublanc Conseils/Public-info, Michel Aublanc, T +33 1 69 286 286, M +33 6 08 719 795,
michel.aublanc@wanadoo.fr

UK
Peter Robbs Consultants Ltd, Cathy Bartley, T +44 (0) 207 635 1593, M +44 (0)79 58 56 16 71, cathy.bartley@ukonline.co.uk

US/Canada
Burness Communications, Ellen Wilson, T +1 301 652 1558, ext 108, M +1 301 922 4969, ewilson@burnesscommunications.com

or visit our pressroom at mim.su.se/conference2005/eng/pressroom.html.

For online registration please visit rollbackmalaria.org/forumV/pressinfo.htm.

You can also find information about malaria on the following links: Malaria Vaccine Initiative: www.malariavaccine.org, Medicines for Malaria Venture: www.mmv.org and Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/tdr.

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