Author: ulick

We first addressed the link between anaemia, often caused by malnutrition, and malaria from a study in Ghana in January. Again this week in MalariaWorld there is a study linking the two ailments in Uganda. ‘Co-occurrence of anaemia and malaria among children under five in Uganda: A joint modeling analysis’ by Kakaire et al found […]

It is our contention that poor nutrition, either absence of nutrients or consumption of contaminated food or poisons, is a major contributor to the occurrence and severity of malaria. This is always the first topic we seek in MalariaWorld or other regular publications. And this week we were pleased to see in LinkedIn that this […]

In MalariaWorld this week there is an article linking an increase of malaria to deforestation in the Amazon region. ‘Malaria, Forest Loss, and Sociopolitical Stability in the Amazon’ by Annika Terrana at Georgetown University argues that malaria resurgence in the Amazon is driven as much by failures in environmental governance and land-use policy as by […]

A greater incidence of malaria has always been associated with wet areas, even before the connection was made to mosquitos. Shakespeare called malaria ague and at his time it was prevalent especially in the relatively swampy East Anglia area of England. The name malaria itself is from Italian for bad air. Its cause was thought […]

A blog post in Nature highlighted in MalariaWorld this week features an African scientist working on genetically modified mosquitos. ‘The Ugandan scientist taking aim at malaria’s mosquitoes’ by Desmond Thompson is Ugandan entomologist Krystal Mwesiga Birungi (pictured). The article is part of a series on Young African Scientists to Watch, commemorating the fifth anniversary of […]

Several news stories this week reminded us of how difficult a challenge we face in our malaria research. The mosquito transmission hypothesis is deeply engrained. I often ask in comments on LinkedIn articles how the poster ‘knows’ malaria is spread by mosquitos. No one has yet answered. In Nairobi this week PAMCA (Pan-Africa Mosquito Control […]

In MalariaWorld this week there is a discussion of the use of malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) in Republic of Congo. ‘Low practical knowledge but high willingness to use malaria rapid diagnostic tests among healthcare workers in the Republic of Congo’ by Baina et al is a survey of healthcare worker (HCW) knowledge about use […]

In MalariaWorld this week there is a report with data showing that malaria has declined this century in Bangladesh with seasonal variation of occurrence. ‘Long‑term associations between seasonal variability and malaria transmission in Bangladesh: a 16‑year national time‑series analysis’ by Akter et al is a retrospective ecological time-series study conducted using monthly malaria surveillance data […]

MalariaWorld remains on its shorter summer edition and contains no topic of interest not reported previously. Thankfully my email inbox had a thought-provoking article from ‘A Midwestern Doctor’ entitled ‘Why Medicine Won’t Cure You—and How That’s Finally Changing’. The anonymous writer’s substack is a great source of insight of what is wrong with the western […]

In MalariaWorld this week the most interesting article again discusses the link between malaria and poverty. ‘Prevalence, determinants, and wealth‑related inequalities in malaria among under five children in Uganda: evidence from the malaria indicator survey’ by Mwebesa et al is a secondary analysis of data from the Uganda Malaria Indicator Survey (UMIS) 2018–2019 and finds […]