Roundup of articles and publications on the latest innovations in malaria, polio, lymphatic filariasis, and onchocerciasis

30 October 2023 – 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

• Spatial–temporal vector abundance and malaria transmission dynamics in Nchelenge and Lake Mweru islands, a region with a high burden of malaria in northern Zambia – Link

Diagnostic testing and treatment

• Exploring the feasibility of introducing triple artemisinin-based combination therapy in the malaria treatment policy in Vietnam – Link

Drug and vaccine development

• The pipeline for drugs for control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases: 2. Oral anti-infective drugs and drug combinations for off-label use – Link
  
• Malaria protein discovery offers path for novel antimalarial intervention strategies – Link | Link to Paper
• New consortium to build on breakthroughs in malaria research to develop P. vivax vaccines – Link 

Immunisation

• Needle-free polio immunization study launches – Link
• First malaria vaccine slashes early childhood mortality – Link
• Cameroon launches new offensive against variant type-2 poliovirus – Link

Surveillance

• Pakistan has world’s most ‘sensitive’ polio surveillance system – health minister – Link

Elimination progress

• Fighting river blindness in southern Venezuela – Link
• Finishing the task of eliminating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in WHO South-East Asia Region: promises kept, challenges, and the way forward – Link
• Towards a malaria-free world: elimination of malaria in Kyrgyzstan – Link
• A systematic review of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in Myanmar – Link
• Ending the neglect: lessons from a decade of success in responding to neglected tropical diseases in Africa – Link
• WHO and partners support Angola in the fight against polio – Link
• In Eastern Afghanistan, communities engage in polio eradication efforts, but desperately need clean water and sanitation – Link
• WHO announces the elimination of lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic – Link

Climate and Health

• Neglected Tropical Diseases – Link
• Barriers to climate change and health research in India: a qualitative study – Link
• Health and climate change in South America – Link

Other

• Specific gut bacteria increase risk of severe malaria – Link | Link to Paper
• Fighting polio vaccine misinformation – Link
• Entomological longitudinal surveys in two contrasted eco-climatic settings in Cameroon reveal a high malaria transmission from Anopheles funestus associated with GSTe2 metabolic resistance – Link
• One woman’s journey of strength, transformation and hope to end Polio – Link
• The provision of malaria services in border districts of four countries in Southern Africa: results from a cross-sectional community assessment of malaria border health posts – Link
• Differences in malaria vector biting behavior and changing vulnerability to malaria transmission in contrasting ecosystems of western Kenya– Link
• Enhanced effect of seasonal malaria chemoprevention when coupled with nutrients supplementation for preventing malaria in children under 5 years old in Burkina Faso: a randomized open label trial – Link
• Complete sources of cluster variation on the risk of under-five malaria in Uganda: a multilevel-weighted mixed effects logistic regression model approach – Link
• Implication of agricultural practices in the micro-geographic heterogeneity of malaria transmission in Bouna, Côte d’Ivoire – Link
• WHO guidelines for malaria – Link
• Polio this week – Link

 

Please contact us with comments and feedback.