The Kids Research Institute Australia is at the forefront of a global effort to track and prevent malaria – one of the world’s leading causes of disease and child deaths, particularly in developing countries.
Funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has facilitated a move by The Kids Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) to a new Africa-based node at the Ifakara Health Institute in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to help create greater global impact.
Housing the world’s largest malaria database, MAP uses cutting-edge geospatial modelling and analytics to map and monitor malaria globally, tracking the impact of control interventions, policies and programs.
The move will help strengthen analytical capacity in affected countries, address inequalities in global health funding, decision making and leadership, and empower the next generation of African spatial modelling researchers for sustainable impact.
Led by MAP Senior Research Fellow Dr Susan Rumisha (originally from Tanzania), the Dar es Salaam Node operates in close alignment with the Perth Node, which is led by Kerry M Stokes Chair in Child Health at Curtin University and The Kids, Professor Peter Gething.
Professor Gething said the establishment of both MAP Nodes would help drive world-leading research aimed at achieving the best outcomes for malaria control and elimination in Africa and globally.
Bringing the MAP team to Africa is allowing us to significantly boost research in the region as well as strengthen research capacity in a continent where malaria is endemic.
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) carries the heaviest toll of the global malaria burden, with 95 per cent of malaria cases and deaths occurring in this region.
MAP team member and Dar Node technical lead Dr Punam Amratia (originally from Kenya) has joined Dr Rumisha in relocating to Dar es Salaam from Perth to establish the node, build the local research team, and drive research, including provision of enhanced technical support to malaria programs in the region.
Dr Rumisha said the MAP African-based Node would benefit the continent through its research and innovation in geospatial analytics for malaria, generating robust evidence to guide malaria decisions and assess impact.
“Working closely with national malaria programs in the region is allowing us to integrate local knowledge, expertise and context into our methodologies and analyses, in turn allowing us to tailor our approach to suit countries’ priorities and demands,” Dr Rumisha said.
The latest tranche of funding – which builds upon many years of funding support from the Foundation – will help MAP generate the annual geospatial malaria modelling and analytics that describe the global landscape of malaria transmission, infection, morbidity, mortality, and intervention coverage.
Next steps
- Other areas of focus will include research to better understand the drivers of malaria trends in Africa, including the recent slow-down in progress against the disease; work on evaluating future threats, including growing drug and insecticide resistance and climate change; and analysis of strategies to improve the efficiency and impact of current and future malaria control tools
- The Dar es Salaam Node team is growing, strengthening in capacity, and has continued supporting the malaria programs in generating robust evidence for malaria
- The MAP team is working to establish strategies for strengthening skills and developing modelling capacities including delivering training programs, developing curriculums for geospatial analysis, and mentorship programs analysis
- Mechanisms to recognise African leadership in modelling are under way, with dedicated efforts to respond to the gender inequalities in modelling