28 February 2024 – Below we feature a compilation of headlines, scientific articles, and technical reports on innovations, R&D and elimination progress towards polio, malaria, onchocerciasis, and lymphatic filariasis. We will be publishing these updates bi-weekly and hope they are useful.

Vector Control

  • Updated WHO guidance for controlling vector-borne diseases through indoor residual spraying – Link

Diagnostic testing and treatment

  • Faster and simpler point-of-care malaria test developed by Rice researchers – Link | Link to Paper
  • Radical cure for Plasmodium vivax malaria after G6PD qualitative testing in four provinces in Cambodia, results from Phase I implementation – Link
  • Operational feasibility of Plasmodium vivax radical cure with tafenoquine or primaquine following point-of-care, quantitative glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase testing in the Brazilian Amazon: a real-life retrospective analysis – Link | Link to Paper
  • Making the most of malaria chemoprevention – Link

Data

  • Time series analysis of malaria cases to assess the impact of various interventions over the last three decades and forecasting malaria in India towards the 2030 elimination goals – Link

Drug and vaccine development

  • Making the most of malaria chemoprevention – Link

Immunisation

  • Vaccinating 3.1 million children to control polio outbreak in South Sudan – Link
  • Polio immunization campaign to protect 1.3 million children in 12 governorates of Yemen – Link
  • Zimbabwe starts an emergency polio vaccination drive after detecting cases caused by a rare mutation – Link
  • Two vaccines, one target: How the RTS,S and R21 malaria vaccines work – Link
  • One billion doses and WHO prequalification of nOPV2: Implications for the global polio situation and beyond – Link

Surveillance

  • Competency of malaria laboratory diagnosis at national and provincial levels at the beginning of malaria post-elimination phase, China – Link 

Elimination progress

  • Malaria elimination and the need for intensive inter-country cooperation a critical evaluation of regional technical co-operation in Southern Africa – Link
  • Malaria could be wiped out within a decade, says Oxford scientist – Link
  • Ending disease in Africa: control, elimination, and eradication efforts for neglected tropical diseases, scoping review of the literature in the WHO African Region since 1990 – Link

Outbreak

  • Zimbabwe declares polio outbreak, rolling out vaccination program – Link

Climate and Health

  • WHO launches a Repository of systematic reviews on interventions in environment, climate change and health – Link
  • Unveiling malaria: parasitic complexity, climate impact, and vaccination advancements – Link
  • Conflict and climate change are supercharging malaria, but it can be stopped – Link

Other

  • Immune persistence after different polio sequential immunization schedules in Chinese infants – Link
  • UVM study links deforestation with higher risk of childhood malaria – Link | Link to Paper
  • Public knowledge of malaria is generally good in Tanzania – Link
  • WHO Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) meeting report, 30 October–1 November 2023 – Link
  • JSI selected to strengthen supply chains for neglected tropical diseases – Link
  • AU Commission joins Ghana, Rwanda and Tanzania to advocate for stronger operationalization of the African Medicine Agency (AMA) & Africa NTDs-free future – Link
  • First Africa-based clinical trial for novel type 2 oral poliovirus vaccine – Link
  • Safety of the novel oral poliovirus vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) in infants and young children aged 1 to <5 years and lot-to-lot consistency of the immune response to nOPV2 in infants in The Gambia: a phase 3, double-blind, randomised controlled trial – Link
  • What’s next for the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) now that it’s been WHO-prequalified? – Link
  • Sustaining polio investments offers a high return – Link

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