While the world struggles to come to terms with novel coronavirus, in malaria affected countries current cases of COVID-19 remain a small percentage of the global infection rates. But the situation is rapidly evolving. This rapidly changing situation requires renewed efforts to prevent, detect and treat malaria as part of the strategy to protect communities from the COVID-19 infection.
In recent years progress in reducing malaria related deaths have plateaued with no significant gains in reducing new infections between 2017 (416,000 deaths) and 2018 (405,000 deaths) as reported by the WHO’s ‘World Malaria Report 2019’.
To us the mosquito may seem like an annoying summertime pest but to people in many countries a mosquito bite can be deadly. Saturday 25 April is World Malaria Day, a recognition of the ongoing global fight towards the prevention and ultimate elimination of malaria. This year’s theme is ‘Zero Malaria starts with me’.
Currently, there are only a limited number of drugs available to prevent malaria, with parasite drug resistance being an increasingly serious issue. Researchers at the Griffith Research Institute for Drug Discovery are working hard to develop new and innovative drugs to prevent and treat this devastating disease. In 2017, our fight towards a cure edged a little closer following successful human clinical trials of a malaria vaccine developed by Griffith’s Institute for Glycomics.
Griffith Research Online has open access full text articles of Griffith’s recent and influential malaria-related research.
Check them out at GRO-malaria.
