The malaria community was abuzz this week with news of the approval of a drug to treat babies 2-5 kg for malaria. Swissmedic approved Riamet Baby (also known as Coartem baby), the first drug designed specifically to treat malaria in very young children. It is available as a dispersible, cherry-flavoured formulation to help improve administration. […]
Author: ulick
Study of Malaria and Bed Net Use in Uganda
In MalariaWorld this week the study ‘Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding malaria in rural Uganda: a cross-sectional study’ by Cathorall et al is featured. In four villages in rural Uganda 106 adults, heads of household, were questions about a variety of issues related to malaria and, in particular, bed net use. The major findings from […]
Can better housing help prevent malaria?
An architectural blog article referenced in MalariaWorld provides further support for the linkage of occurrence of malaria to the quality of housing to which I have frequently made reference. ‘Can better housing help prevent malaria? The Star Homes Project in Sub-Saharan Africa’ by Lonati in designwanted.com describes a custom-built housing project in Mtwara region of […]
Heavy Promotion of Malaria Vaccines
Despite underwhelming performance (see my June 6, 2025 post) the malaria vaccines, that were tested against a rabies vaccine and not a true placebo (see February 8, 2025, December 22, 2024, August 11, 2024, & June 5, 2024) are being promoted heavily in malaria stricken areas, selling people hope that can not be backed by […]
Quality of Housing Suggests Poverty Main Factor Correlated with Malaria
Two articles in Malaria World this week describing research in East Africa provide more evidence suggesting that the main factor correlated with malaria is poverty. ‘Household practices and infrastructure associated with high Plasmodium falciparum infection rates among children under five years old in Northern Uganda’ by Echodu et al found housing structures, particularly mud/clay walls […]
Despite Hype, Malaria Vaccines are Underwhelming
Malaria vaccines is a hot research topic in Malaria World and is addressed this week in two highlighted news articles and three research papers. One research paper is a review ‘Malaria Vaccines: Current Achievements and Path Forward’ by Chen et al. It summarises the current establishment views describing the two approved vaccines, RTS, S/AS01(Mosquirix by […]
Malaria Tests
There are a few articles this week in Malaria World discussing accuracy of tests. There are two types of tests is common use. The first is old fashioned microscopy that is considered the ‘gold standard’. A drop of blood is smeared on an microscope slide and it is inspected visually for plasmodia. This method requires […]
Malaria Prevalence in Rwandan Children Linked to Nutritional Status and Wealth
In Malaria World this week there is an article ‘Exploring the prevalence and association between nutritional status and asymptomatic malaria in Rwanda among under-5 children: a cross-sectional analysis’ by Uwimana et al describes the association between malaria and malnutrition. Data from three Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in Rwanda in 2010, 2014–15, and […]
More Evidence of Influence of Socio-Economic Inequalities in Malaria Prevalence
In Malaria World this week there is another paper highlighting the effect of socio-economic inequalities in malaria prevalence, ‘Socio-economic inequalities in malaria prevalence among under-five children in Ghana between 2016 and 2019: a decomposition analysis’ by Edusei et al. In their analysis of results from 2019 Ghana Malaria Indicator Surveys (GMIS) of under-five children the […]
Malaria. A disease of Poverty
In Malaria World this week there is a review ‘Global trends and burdens of neglected tropical diseases and malaria from 1990 to 2021: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021’ by Chen et al. Its introduction has an interesting un-cited statement ‘Malaria, commonly referred to as the “disease of poverty”’. The […]