Press
September 1, 2021
Uganda Ready to launch full war against Malaria–President Museveni
School of Public Health College of Health Sciences, Makerere University
Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has made a commitment on behalf of Uganda in efforts towards the end of Malaria in Uganda. The president said in absence of a vaccine against malaria, community mobilisation, political will and strengthening research capacity will be prioritized in the fight against Malaria. “I have never known why the vaccine (against plasmodium) is impossible. But we are ready. I am ready to launch a full war against the mosquito and the plasmodium so that we are free from Malaria,” said President Museveni at the virtual webinar titled Rethinking Malaria in the Context of COVID-19 on Wednesday September 1, 2021….
Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has made a commitment on behalf of Uganda in efforts towards the end of Malaria in Uganda. The president said in absence of a vaccine against malaria, community mobilisation, political will and strengthening research capacity will be prioritized in the fight against Malaria. “I have never known why the vaccine (against plasmodium) is impossible. But we are ready. I am ready to launch a full war against the mosquito and the plasmodium so that we are free from Malaria,” said President Museveni at the virtual webinar titled Rethinking Malaria in the Context of COVID-19 on Wednesday September 1, 2021….
September 2, 2021
Museveni: Uganda ready to launch full war against Malaria
By Davidson Ndyabahika
President Museveni alongside Dr Specioza Naigaga Wandira Kazibwe,former Vice President and currently Senior Presidential Advisor on Population & Health and Dyann F. Wirth, Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health during a global virtual discussion to ‘take stock’ of the global malaria situation and offer insights on the most effective and innovative response to control and eliminate malaria across the globe….
President Museveni alongside Dr Specioza Naigaga Wandira Kazibwe,former Vice President and currently Senior Presidential Advisor on Population & Health and Dyann F. Wirth, Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health during a global virtual discussion to ‘take stock’ of the global malaria situation and offer insights on the most effective and innovative response to control and eliminate malaria across the globe….
September 3, 2021
Global health experts share findings from year-long “Rethinking malaria” consultation
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. speaking during the virtual forum on 1 September
In 2017, WHO warned that the global response to malaria had reached a crossroads. After 15 years of success in global malaria control, progress had levelled off, and many countries with a high burden of the disease were losing ground. According to the latest World malaria report, published in November 2020, progress continues to plateau and – without urgent action – the 2030 targets of the WHO global malaria strategy will be missed. The COVID-19 pandemic poses a serious additional challenge to the delivery of malaria prevention, detection and treatment services worldwide. In view of these worrying trends, WHO has called for new approaches to global malaria control that are shaped, first and foremost, by the voices and perspectives of frontline health workers and communities. One such approach, “High burden to high impact,” is being led by 11 countries that carry the highest share of the global malaria burden. Launched in 2018 and supported by WHO, this approach aims to reignite progress in the fight against malaria through 4 key actions: political will to reduce malaria deaths; strategic information to drive impact; better guidance, policies and strategies; and improved coordination….
In 2017, WHO warned that the global response to malaria had reached a crossroads. After 15 years of success in global malaria control, progress had levelled off, and many countries with a high burden of the disease were losing ground. According to the latest World malaria report, published in November 2020, progress continues to plateau and – without urgent action – the 2030 targets of the WHO global malaria strategy will be missed. The COVID-19 pandemic poses a serious additional challenge to the delivery of malaria prevention, detection and treatment services worldwide. In view of these worrying trends, WHO has called for new approaches to global malaria control that are shaped, first and foremost, by the voices and perspectives of frontline health workers and communities. One such approach, “High burden to high impact,” is being led by 11 countries that carry the highest share of the global malaria burden. Launched in 2018 and supported by WHO, this approach aims to reignite progress in the fight against malaria through 4 key actions: political will to reduce malaria deaths; strategic information to drive impact; better guidance, policies and strategies; and improved coordination….
September 3, 2021
Museveni to launch war against malaria
By Monitor Reporter
President Museveni has vowed to launch a full war against mosquitoes and malaria saying the focus has been on curative side and not so much on prevention and elimination. “We were used to mainly the curative side. Prevention is not emphasised. We need to study data, what do we gain if we shift from curative to prevention or elimination. Can we develop vaccines, eliminate vectors and promote behaviour change? If we aim at elimination, we need to study how successful countries did it,” he said…
President Museveni has vowed to launch a full war against mosquitoes and malaria saying the focus has been on curative side and not so much on prevention and elimination. “We were used to mainly the curative side. Prevention is not emphasised. We need to study data, what do we gain if we shift from curative to prevention or elimination. Can we develop vaccines, eliminate vectors and promote behaviour change? If we aim at elimination, we need to study how successful countries did it,” he said…
September 3, 2021
A Call to Shift the Center of Gravity of the Malaria Fight Towards Endemic Countries
The consultative process ‘Rethinking malaria in the context of COVID-19’ concluded with a call to integrate malaria services into strengthened health services, empower local communities, rely on scientific data for strategic decision making and shift the malaria governance structure so as to give malaria endemic countries enhanced leadership…
September 2, 2021
Museveni to Launch Decisive war against Malaria amidst COVID19 Pandemic
State Lodge, Nakasero
President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to launch a full war against mosquitoes and malaria saying the focus has been on curative side and not so much on prevention and elimination. “We were used to mainly the curative side. Prevention is not emphasized. We need to study data, what do we gain if we shift from curative to prevention or elimination. Can we develop vaccines, eliminate vectors and promote behaviour change? If we aim at elimination, we need to study how successful countries did it,” he said. President Museveni was yesterday one of the panellists at a webinar organised by the Harvard University to highlight findings from a year-long global engagement on the theme, “Rethinking Malaria in the Context of COVID-19.”…
President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to launch a full war against mosquitoes and malaria saying the focus has been on curative side and not so much on prevention and elimination. “We were used to mainly the curative side. Prevention is not emphasized. We need to study data, what do we gain if we shift from curative to prevention or elimination. Can we develop vaccines, eliminate vectors and promote behaviour change? If we aim at elimination, we need to study how successful countries did it,” he said. President Museveni was yesterday one of the panellists at a webinar organised by the Harvard University to highlight findings from a year-long global engagement on the theme, “Rethinking Malaria in the Context of COVID-19.”…
October 21, 2019
Can the world eradicate malaria by 2050?
For public health practitioners, malaria is a daunting foe. More than 200 million people become sick with it annually, and more than 400,000 people die from it each year, many of whom are children under the age of 5. On top of that, the parasites that cause the disease can rapidly evolve to become resistant to available medications.
September 17, 2019
Could wildfires in the Amazon drive malaria rates up?
Current wildfires burning in the Amazon could have a widespread impact on public health, according to experts. Marcia Castro, Andelot Professor of Demography at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said one potential hazard is that the deforestation caused by the burning could result in ideal conditions for mosquitos to breed. “Deforestation is directly connected to malaria,” Castro said.
July 4, 2019
Malaria: collaborating to succeed
“Collaboration” was probably the word most heard when asking the participants of the 8th edition of the Science of Eradication: Malaria course how they thought the fight against malaria could be improved. Even though progress has stalled, as highlighted by the head of the Global Malaria Programme, Pedro Alonso, in the opening lecture, participants left Barcelona with a shared feeling of optimism and a perception that with commitment, a multidisciplinary approach to the disease and data-driven decisions; malaria control, elimination, and eradication are indeed achievable goals
June 5, 2019
New method to block malaria transmission identified
A new study shows that natural human immune responses can recognize and kill malaria parasites before they can spread to mosquitoes. The work forms a starting point for a new line of vaccine research, according to a team of scientists from the University of Glasgow, Radboud University Medical Center, The Netherlands, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
June 3, 2019
A former malaria patient takes on her wily foe
Lọla Fagbami, PhD ’19, is pursuing a novel approach to understanding how the malaria parasite becomes drug-resistant. During her rotations, Fagbami worked in the lab of Dyann Wirth, Richard Pearson Strong Professor of Infectious Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and one of the world’s leading experts on malaria. For her thesis work, Fagbami worked with Wirth’s labs at Harvard Chan School and the Broad Institute, as well as with Ralph Mazitschek at Massachusetts General Hospital, to study how the metabolism of P. falciparum may contribute to the formation of drug resistance.
February 27, 2019
Promising new bed net strategy to zap malaria parasite In mosquitoes
Research published in the journal Nature proposes a new approach — kill the parasite that causes malaria while it’s inside the mosquito instead of killing the mosquito itself. Catteruccia’s lab at Harvard University demonstrated that an antimalarial drug can be transmitted to mosquitoes through brief, direct contact and effectively halt the transmission of the parasite.
July 16, 2018
Seeking new momentum in malaria fight
Experts, program heads, and present and future leaders in the fight against malaria gathered at Harvard Business School in June for a weeklong workshop aimed at supporting global eradication efforts. The program is an annual event that rotates among locations chosen by the three host organizations: Harvard University, the Barcelona Institute for Global Health at the University of Barcelona, and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute at the University of Basel.
December 5, 2017
Exploring the vexing world of malaria control
Malaria is a complicated disease to tackle from a public health perspective. Its complexity stems in part from the two organisms that conspire to transmit the disease: the single-celled Plasmodium parasite and the mosquitoes that ferry them to their hosts. Thankfully, there are tools that can help control this two-pronged threat — insecticides for the mosquitoes and drugs for the parasites — but they too have vulnerabilities, and can be overcome.
November 30, 2017
New drugs, tools, innovations needed to rid world of malaria
New medicines to help counter drug resistance and tools like gene drive technologies to curb parasite transmission are among the innovations needed to rid the world of malaria, according to a new research agenda published as a special collection in PLOS Medicine on November 30, 2017. The papers were authored by over 180 scientists, malaria program leaders, and policy makers —including Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers — who collaborated for over a year to update a research agenda for eradicating the disease.
November 1, 2017
Preparing in ‘peacetime’ for the next infectious disease outbreak
Although the recent outbreaks of Zika in Brazil and Ebola in West Africa have subsided, it would be a mistake for public health practitioners to lower their defenses, according to a panel of experts convened at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. There is still much more work to be done, they said. Survivors struggle with the health and social consequences of their illnesses—and the next outbreak of these or other viruses may be right around the corner.
October 25, 2017
Multifaceted approach key to eradicating malaria
Throughout the twentieth century, researchers hoped to discover a “magic bullet” to cure malaria. But today experts realize that efforts to curb or eradicate the mosquito-borne disease must be multifaceted, from research to policy efforts to use of on-the-ground tools such as pesticides and bed nets. That was the key takeaway from panelists at a Harvard Worldwide Week event titled “Looking Back, Moving Forward: The Evolution of Malaria,” held October 24, 2017 at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
October 25, 2017
Assessing the impact of climate change on malaria
Climate change may lead to an increase in malaria in certain spots around the world. But in other places, it may have little or no impact on the mosquito-borne disease, according to an expert panel convened at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
June 8, 2017
Genetically engineered mosquitoes to eradicate disease
As scientists explore the potential application of gene editing, they’re beginning to discover the many uses — and pitfalls — of the technology. In the case of malaria and other vector-borne illnesses, it’s become clear that gene editing could be a powerful new tool for mosquito control and disease eradication. At a live panel recorded at The Forum at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, four experts discussed gene editing and how it might influence global and human health.
April 25, 2017
#WorldMalariaDay: MalariaX Course Explores Ways to Eliminate Malaria
Did you know that nearly half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria? In recognition of World Malaria Day, HarvardX is excited to announce the launch of MalariaX: Defeating Malaria from the Genes to the Globe, a new online course that explores cutting-edge science and technology, and examines policies needed to control and eliminate malaria.
December 15, 2016
Battling infectious diseases takes a village
Regina Rabinovich, the ExxonMobil Malaria Scholar in Residence at Harvard University, has her sights set on how to address pressing health issues. And she’s in a unique position to do so: She was recently named president-elect of the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (ASTMH).
June 17, 2016
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, visits ISGlobal
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Margaret Chan, made a surprise visit to the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal) and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona, where the course Science of Eradication: Malaria is taking place. Dr. Chan accepted the invitation made by Pedro Alonso, Director of the WHO Global Malaria Programme and ISGlobal founder, who is participating as lecturer in the course organized by ISGlobal, the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and the Swiss TPH Institute.
June 16, 2016
Student recognized for genetic research on malaria
As an undergraduate working in malaria researcher Dyann Wirth’s lab at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Caleb Irvine was curious why malaria transmission was on the uptick in the Thiès region of Senegal, in spite of efforts to control the disease there.
June 14, 2016
Inside Harvard’s hot and humid mosquito lab
Deep in Harvard’s public health school, behind three secure-access doors, hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes hatch and buzz in the school’s insectary. There, in the heat and high humidity, graduate student Andie Smidler runs experiments using a powerful, controversial tool called gene drive, which hijacks evolution to force an altered gene to be passed down to offspring.
April 18, 2016
Campus Assassins game targets malaria
Across the College, 400 students have signed up to play Assassins—a live action game in which players receive human targets and attempt to eliminate them—with a particular focus on malaria prevention and awareness. The game is sponsored by Malaria Assassins, a group of members of the Global Health Forum who won the 2015 Harvard Malaria Challenge.
April 12, 2016
Researchers optimistic about malaria vaccine progress
While the world is as close as it has ever been to having a malaria vaccine, the fight to eradicate the disease is far from over. That was the consensus among experts in the field who gathered at a forum hosted by Harvard’s Defeating Malaria: From the Genes to the Globe initiative on April 6, 2016.
October 8, 2015
At HUBweek, experts focus on global health threats
HUBweek, a series of events celebrating “big ideas and bold solutions,” was held throughout Boston and Cambridge October 3–10, 2015. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health hosted a series of panels on October 5 at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center highlighting four major global health threats: infectious diseases, harmful environments, humanitarian crises, and failing health systems.
June 16, 2015
Coordinatudents raise malaria awarenessting against malaria
A group of scientists, government officials, nonprofit leaders, malaria-control program directors, and others gathered at Harvard Business School this week sought to draw lessons from past eradication efforts as they embarked on a weeklong leadership program focused on eradicating another age-old scourge: malaria.
May 15, 2015
Alpert Prize recognizes malaria breakthroughs
The 2015 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize will be awarded to Ruth S. Nussenzweig and Victor Nussenzweig, both faculty at the NYU Langone Medical Center, and Tu Youyou of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, for their pioneering discoveries in chemistry and parasitology, and their personal commitment to translating these discoveries into effective chemotherapeutic and vaccine-based approaches to controlling malaria.
April 24, 2015
World Malaria Day forum explores public-private partnerships
The global community has made gains in fighting malaria, but those advances are tenuous and multi-sector partnerships are needed to eradicate the disease. That was the consensus among experts in the field who gathered at a forum co-hosted by Harvard’s Defeating Malaria initiative on April 24 to mark World Malaria Day. The event, Partnerships for Malaria Elimination: Lessons and Opportunities, focused on the need to build partnerships between governments, academic researchers, and the private sector.
February 26, 2015
Malaria parasite can hide in bone marrow
Researchers at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and University of Perugia, Italy published new findings in Science, on February 26, 2015 that may provide explanations as to why certain mosquito species can transmit the disease to humans.
December 19, 2014
Sharing ideas on public health education
On December 10-11, 2014, the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health welcomed a delegation of 16 academic leaders from Nigeria and Ghana. The meeting, hosted by Professors Phyllis Kanki and Dyann Wirth, aimed at sharing ideas about public health education.
July 28, 2014
Malaria pioneer sees a brighter, multi-sector path forward
In an interview in the Lamp, an ExxonMobil publication, Dr. Regina Rabinovich, the ExxonMobil Malaria Scholar in Residence, discusses the cross-sectoral collaboration needed to eradicate malaria, and Harvard’s role in reaching this goal.
July 24, 2014
The malaria parasite can hide in bone marrow
A research team led by Professor Matthias Marti from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, have confirmed that parasites that transmit malaria are able to hide in their host’s bone marrow during development.
July 9, 2014
Malaria parasite ‘gets down to the bone’
A recent publication by Professor Matthias Marti, describing the ability of the malaria parasites to hide inside the bone marrow and evade the immune system, received coverage on BBC News.
June 6, 2014
Infection in malaria-transmitting mosquito discovered
In a recent article published in Nature Communications, Harvard Professor Flaminia Catteruccia and an international group of researchers describe evidence of an intercellular bacterial infection in natural populations of two species of Anopheles mosquitoes. The infection, called Wolbachia, has been shown in laboratory settings to reduce the incidence of pathogen infections in mosquitoes and has the potential to be used in controlling malaria-transmitting mosquito populations.
May 22, 2014
A passion for science – and fighting malaria
PhD candidate Perrine Marcenac describes her research on mosquito biology and exploring the interplay between reproduction and immunity in Anopheles gambiae, the primary vector for malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa.
May 5, 2014
An American doctor may have solved a deadly mystery about malaria
Professor Terrie Taylor’s research into the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging as a novel treatment method for malaria is described in this article on Public Radio International. Terrie Taylor is a Medical Professor at Michigan State University and collaborates with researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
May 2, 2014
Student raise malaria awareness with flash mob
Harvard’s Defeating Malaria initiative, spearheaded by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, sponsored a student-led ever called Mob Malaria in commemoration of World Malaria Day on April 25.
May 2, 2014
Students raise malaria awareness with flash mobs
Harvard’s Defeating Malaria initiative and partners at Malaria No More sponsored two fun, student-led activities to raise awareness of malaria across Harvard.
April 28, 2014
Students Organize International ‘Mobs’ To Raise Awareness of Malaria
Occupancy at the Science Center Plaza swelled above its usual levels last Friday afternoon when curiously large crowds milled about the tables, benches, and food trucks, poised to take part in a synchronized flash mob to raise awareness of the need to eradicate malaria.
April 25, 2014
Of Moses, Me, and Malaria
In an article published in the Harvard Crimson on World Malaria Day 2014, Harvard College Sophomore and neurobiology concentrator Dominic Akandwanaho shares his experiences growing up with malaria in Uganda.
April 25, 2014
Harvard students hope a mob mentality can raise malaria awareness
Mob Malaria, a malaria awareness campaign led by two Harvard College freshmen, is featured on global health news website Humanosphere.
December 6, 2013
Experts share global health stories
At the recent Global Health Summit, a joint effort of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), and Harvard Medical School (HMS), a dozen experts discussed health care challenges ranging from delivering humanitarian aid to making surgery safer.
October 29, 2013
New molecular target for malaria control identified
A new study led by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and University of Perugia (UNIPG) researchers has shown that egg development in the mosquito species primarily responsible for spreading malaria depends on a switch in the female that is turned on by a male hormone delivered during sex.
October 24, 2013
100 Years of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
The Launch of the School’s Capital Campaign
Harvard Magazine spoke with several current Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health professors about achievements of the past and directions for the future: combating malaria, stopping pandemic flus, improving humanitarian aid, and more.
Harvard Magazine spoke with several current Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health professors about achievements of the past and directions for the future: combating malaria, stopping pandemic flus, improving humanitarian aid, and more.
October 23, 2013
CNN 10: Thinkers – Caroline Buckee
CNN honors Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health epidemiologist Caroline Buckee as one of ten visionaries whose ideas are shaping our future in the fields of science and technology. (Illustration by Michael Manisa)
August 22, 2013
Getting a Handle on Malaria
An article published by Brevia, a Harvard College Undergraduate Research Association publication, discusses recent developments in malaria research, as well as collaborations between researchers from different fields that provide new insights into the biology of the malaria parasite.
August 21, 2013
Buckee named an ‘Innovator Under 35’
The MIT Technology Review has named Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health epidemiologist, Professor Caroline Buckee as one of this year’s Innovators under 35.
May 28, 2013
Infectious research
A Profile of the Department of Immunology & Infectious Diseases
In this interview Professor Dyann Wirth, Chair of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases discusses the role of the department in strengthening our understanding of how and why viruses, bacteria, parasitic organisms and other infectious agents cause disease and epidemics, why epidemics spread the way they do, and what Harvard can do to control and prevent that spread.
In this interview Professor Dyann Wirth, Chair of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases discusses the role of the department in strengthening our understanding of how and why viruses, bacteria, parasitic organisms and other infectious agents cause disease and epidemics, why epidemics spread the way they do, and what Harvard can do to control and prevent that spread.
May 9, 2013
Monkey malaria parasite poses increasing risks to humans
An new Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study has shed light on why a monkey malaria parasite that typically caused only mild infection in humans is now beginning to cause severe disease and death—and how it has the potential to become a dangerous human-to-human pathogen.
April 1, 2013
Defeating Malaria: From the Genes to the Globe Symposium
Progress, Puzzles in Halting Malaria
Coverage of the Defeating Malaria: From the Genes to the Globe Symposium in the Harvard Gazette.
Coverage of the Defeating Malaria: From the Genes to the Globe Symposium in the Harvard Gazette.
February 3, 2013
Harvard Malaria Forum
Hitting Malaria From All Sides
Coverage of the inaugural Harvard Malaria Forum in the Harvard Gazette.
Coverage of the inaugural Harvard Malaria Forum in the Harvard Gazette.
December 13, 2012
Malaria Parasite Transforms Itself to Hide from Human Immune System
Professors Manoj Duraisingh and Dyann Wirth have uncovered details about the mechanism by which the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, avoids detection.
October 8, 2012
Using Cell Phone Data to Curb the Spread of Malaria
Led by Professor Caroline Buckee, new research that combines cell phone data from 15 million people in Kenya with detailed information on the regional incidence of malaria has revealed, on the largest scale so far, how human travel patterns contribute to the disease’s spread.
October 3, 2012
Dr. Regina Rabinovich named the ExxonMobil Malaria Scholar in Residence at Harvard University
The ExxonMobil Malaria Scholar in Residence Program is designed to bring established individuals with diverse experiences and expertise in malaria to spend a year at Harvard University where they will connect with faculty, mentor students and foster the integration of the goals of Defeating Malaria.
August 15, 2012
The Many Faces of Malaria
Drs. Dan Neafsey and Danny Park from the Broad Institute are harnessing genomic information to attack malaria from many angles, looking for new ways to target this neglected disease.
June 8, 2012
2012 Science of Eradication: Malaria Leadership Development Course
Training Leaders For Malaria Fight
Coverage of the inaugural Science of Eradication: Malaria Leadership Development Course in the Harvard Gazette.
Coverage of the inaugural Science of Eradication: Malaria Leadership Development Course in the Harvard Gazette.
January 21, 2011
Rethinking Malaria: The Science of Eradication Symposium
Plotting the Demise of Malaria
Coverage of the Rethinking Malaria Symposium in the Harvard Gazette.
Coverage of the Rethinking Malaria Symposium in the Harvard Gazette.
