Friends of the Global Fight Blog: World Malaria Day 2017: Inspiring advocacy in the fight against malaria
This blog post highlights a panel discussion at the Nothing But Nets Leadership Summit on the U.S. role in malaria prevention and treatment efforts. Panelists included Chris Collins, president of Friends of the Global Fight; Irene Koek, senior deputy assistant administrator in USAID’s Global Health Bureau; and Busiku Hamainza, epidemiologist at the National Malaria Control Center in Zambia. Jen Kates, vice president and director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, moderated the discussion (4/25).

PLOS Blog’s “Speaking of Medicine”: Malaria Prevention: Tackling the Gaps in Reaching the Hardest-to-Reach
“Estrella Lasry, tropical diseases adviser at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), describes the challenges of combating malaria in populations isolated by geography or violence” (4/25).

U.S. Global Leadership Coalition: A Malaria-Free Generation Is Within Our Reach
Megan Rabbit, communications manager at USGLC, discusses malaria progress, writing, “[T]his World Malaria Day — which falls during World Immunization Week — we have extra cause for celebration: scientists are in the process of developing a highly promising malaria vaccine. With vaccinations anticipated to begin in Africa next year as a part of the World Health Organization’s pilot program, the world is on the precipice of gaining another powerful tool in the fight against malaria” (4/25).

Tropical Health Matters: Malaria Day 17 Years Later: Documenting and Investing to End Malaria
Bill Brieger, professor in the health systems program of the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins University, highlights past World Malaria Day themes and writes, “[T]hese themes emphasize the importance of access to malaria interventions, documenting that access, [and] using the data to stimulate more investment ultimately leading to an end (elimination) of malaria. … Looking at the Malaria Day themes around investing, we know that unless one can show investors results, it will be difficult to ‘End Malaria for Good'” (4/23).

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: Project’s goal: End malaria for all
In a guest post, Brittany Iskarpatyoti, gender research adviser at MEASURE Evaluation, discusses the importance of addressing gender in anti-malaria programming and policies (4/23).

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: On World Malaria Day we’re reading about a disease that highlights health system and service gaps, and why that matters more than ever
Antigone Barton, senior editor and writer of “Science Speaks,” highlights several recent documents discussing global malaria efforts, including a CDC blog post on malaria eradication; a MEASURE Evaluation report on continuous medical education for health workers; an article discussing documented malaria cases in the U.S.; and an article on “how climate change, as well as poverty and municipal neglect in some of the most vulnerable regions, are fueling the threats posed by mosquito-borne diseases in the U.S.” (4/25).

BioMed Central: ACT now: anti-malarial market complexity one decade after the introduction of artemisinin combination therapy — evidence from sub-Saharan Africa and the Greater Mekong Sub-region
“…This series provides a comprehensive contemporary view of anti-malarial markets across several countries in [sub-Saharan Africa and the Greater Mekong sub-region], examining current levels of access to quality-assured first-line treatments and malaria diagnostics, and documenting the persistence of other non-first line medicines. This evidence serves as a benchmark for public and private sector initiatives that have aimed to scale up access to first-line treatment and confirmatory testing. Evidence can guide future strategies aimed at improving malaria case management and for accelerating progress towards malaria elimination…” (4/25).