Dear Colleagues,

In support of Africa Malaria Day, we at the MIM Secretariat have an-
nounced to the press our two up-coming conferences focusing on ma-
laria research in endemic-countries. Today is the first ever Africa
Malaria Day. Africa Malaria Day was developed at the April 25, 2000
Roll Back Malaria meeting in Abuja, Nigeria.

Andrea Egan, PhD
Coordinator
Multilateral Initiative on Malaria
Fogarty International Center
National Institutes of Health
31 Center Drive MSC 2220
Building 31, Room B2C39
Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Tel: +1-301-402-6680
Fax: +1-301-402-2056
mailto:[email protected]
http://mim.nih.gov

--
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

John E. Fogarty International Center For Advanced Study in the Health
Sciences

NIH NEWS RELEASE
Wednesday, April 25, 2001

Contact:
Jennifer Cabe
Tel: +1-301-496-2075

MALARIA RESEARCH AND TRAINING BENEFITS GLOBAL COMMUNITY
April 25 is Africa Malaria Day 2001

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, BETHESDA, MD -- Malaria kills 2.7 mil-
lion people each year, according to the most recent estimates, and is
responsible for enormous economic burdens in malaria-endemic regions.
Ninety percent of those who die of malaria are African children under
the age of 5. Over 1.5 billion new infections occur annually. Unfor-
tunately, these numbers are on the rise due to insecticide resis-
tance, antimalarial drug resistance, and environmental changes.
Unless new strategies are developed, death and illness due to malaria
will increase, and the disease will continue to be a substantial bar-
rier to the economic and social development of malaria-endemic re-
gions and a threat to the millions of people who travel to those re-
gions each year.

In 1997, an international alliance of research and public health
agencies and African scientists launched the Multilateral Initiative
on Malaria (MIM). MIM is stimulating collaborative research to answer
the needs of public health programs in malaria-endemic countries,
modernizing communication systems used by the African research commu-
nity, and strengthening research capacity and human resources where
malaria takes its greatest toll -- sub-Saharan Africa. MIM supports
23 collaborative malaria research projects between African laborato-
ries that are also in partnership with laboratories in Europe and the
United States. Detailed information about MIM, its partners, and ac-
tivities is available on the MIM website at:
http://mim.nih.gov

April 25, 2001 is the first-ever Africa Malaria Day. Today, MIM is
announcing two international conferences on malaria. MIM will hold
the Third MIM Pan-African Conference on Malaria from November 18 to
22, 2002, in Arusha, Tanzania. This conference will bring together
malaria researchers who battle "Plasmodium falciparum" malaria, which
causes the most severe illness and which is the dominant form of ma-
laria in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, MIM is organizing a confer-
ence to focus on a second form of malaria, "Plasmodium vivax", in
January 2002 in Bangkok, Thailand, together with partners in Asia.
"Plasmodium vivax" malaria significantly contributes to malaria mor-
bidity in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Both conferences will
bring together malaria researchers and malaria control experts with
the aim of transferring malaria research advances into critically
needed control, prevention, and treatment programs. MIM selected Af-
rica Malaria Day to announce these two international conferences to
draw attention to the fact that malaria research and capacity build-
ing in malaria-endemic regions are essential, integrally linked com-
ponents in an effective approach to addressing malaria.

"It is essential that those most impacted by malaria participate in
finding research solutions," said Gerald T. Keusch, M.D., Director of
FIC and of the MIM Secretariat, and NIH Associate Director for Inter-
national Research. "Support for research conducted in malaria-endemic
regions by local researchers will have critical, lasting impacts lo-
cally and globally."

Keusch added, "Given the profound toll that malaria takes on socie-
ties, African leaders have been at the forefront of MIM in addressing
this issue." The lead organizers of the Third MIM Pan-African Confer-
ence on Malaria are the National Institute for Malaria Research in
Tanzania, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and MIM.

The Second MIM Pan-African Conference on Malaria was held in March
1999 in Durban, South Africa, and included over 850 delegates. The
proceedings of that conference are available on the MIM website at:
http://mim.nih.gov/english/achievements/conference.html#durban_report

FIC is the international component of NIH and currently serves as MIM
Secretariat. NIH, primarily through the National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), supports malaria research to address
critical needs related to vaccine development, vector biology and
control, health economics, health information systems, and other re-
search areas, while FIC promotes capacity building through its ma-
laria research training programs for scientists from malaria-endemic
countries. In addition to the two international scientific confer-
ences announced today, other activities of the MIM Secretariat at NIH
include:

RESEARCH TRAINING GRANTS:
To expand the capabilities of malaria researchers, FIC developed the
International Malaria Research and Training Program (IMTRP). The
scarcity of trained malaria researchers in the regions most severely
impacted by the disease is a major impediment to successful malaria
research. In 2000, the IMRTP began supporting collaborative training
programs between U.S. institutions and malaria researchers in endemic
countries. More information about the IMRTP is available on the FIC
website at:
http://www.nih.gov/fic/programs/malaria.html

TRAINING WORKSHOPS:
MIM sponsors workshops about the grant application and peer-review
process to train researchers from malaria-endemic regions to success-
fully apply for research grants. The current issue of the journal
"Trends in Parasitology" (Vol. 17, No. 4, April 2001) includes a re-
port on a recent MIM training workshop.

ADDRESSING MALARIAL ANEMIA:
To foster research on the interaction between malaria and anemia,
MIM; NIAID; FIC; and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
(NHLBI) organized meetings of haematologists, nutritionists, and ma-
laria researchers to discuss these interactions. Subsequently, NIAID
and FIC developed a joint research and training program to support
research in malaria-endemic countries on the pathogenesis of severe
malarial anemia. More information about this program, which is cur-
rently accepting applications, is available on the FIC website at:
http://www.nih.gov/fic/programs/malaria.html

Information about NIAID malaria research activities is available at:
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/malaria

FIC is the international component of the NIH. FIC promotes and sup-
ports scientific research internationally to reduce disparities in
global health. NIH is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. Fact sheets, press releases, and other FIC-related
materials are available at:
http://www.nih.gov/fic
http://www.nih.gov/fic/news/press.html
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/apr2001/fic-25.htm