Improvements in access to malaria treatment in Tanzania following community, retail sector and health facility interventions - a user perspective (Publications)
Treatment-seeking and awareness of malaria was already high at baseline, but various improvements were seen between 2004 and 2008, namely: better understanding causes of malaria (from 62% to 84%); an increase [...] approach aimed at improving understanding and treatment of malaria has led to tangible improvements in terms of people's actions for the treatment of malaria. However, progress was hindered by the low availability [...] BACKGROUND: The ACCESS programme aims at understanding and...
Improvements in access to malaria treatment in Tanzania after switch to artemisinin combination therapy and the introduction of accredited drug... (Publications)
Dispensing Outlets (ADDO) was created in Tanzania. Tanzania changed its first-line treatment for malaria from sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) to artemether-lumefantrine (ALu) in 2007. Subsidized ALu was [...] made available in both health facilities and ADDOs. The effect of these interventions on access to malaria treatment was studied in rural Tanzania. METHODS: The study was carried out in the villages of Kilombero [...] outlets. The data were complemented with DSS population data. RESULTS:...
Models for short term malaria prediction in Sri Lanka (Publications)
time series of district malaria cases for their ability to predict the number of malaria cases one to four months ahead. The addition of covariates such as the number of malaria cases in neighbouring districts [...] monitored/diagnosed malaria cases allows for the study of forecasting models, with an aim to developing a forecasting system which could assist in the efficient allocation of resources for malaria control. METHODS: [...] BACKGROUND: Malaria in Sri Lanka is unstable and fluctuates in...
MalHaploFreq: a computer programme for estimating malaria haplotype frequencies from blood samples (Publications)
are important surveillance tools that can inform policy choice. People infected with falciparum malaria often contain several genetically-distinct clones of the parasite; genotyping the patients' blood [...] present (i.e. its prevalence), but does not reveal its frequency. For example a person with four malaria clones may contain both mutant and wildtype forms of a marker but it is not possible to distinguish
Efficacy and safety of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine for treatment of <em>Plasmodium vivax</em> malaria in endemic countries: meta-analysis of... (Publications)
the efficacy of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHP) in treating uncomplicated Plasmodium vivax malaria in people living in endemic countries. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: This is a meta-analysis [...] Findings document that DHP is more efficacious than CQ and AL in treating uncomplicated P. vivax malaria. The better safety profile of DHP and the once-daily dosage improves adherence, and its fixed co [...] the potential to become an alternative antimalarial drug for the treatment...
Orally active antischistosomal early leads identified from the open access malaria box (Publications)
drugs. METHODOLOGY: We studied the antischistosomal properties of the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) malaria box containing 200 diverse drug-like and 200 probe-like compounds with confirmed in vitro [...] respectively. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The two candidates identified by investigating the MMV malaria box are characterized by good pharmacokinetic profiles, low cytotoxic potential and easy chemistry
Malaria case management in Papua New Guinea following the introduction of a revised treatment protocol (Publications)
fever or suspected malaria patients and via an interviewer administered questionnaire completed with the officer in charge of each participating health care facility. RESULTS: Malaria rapid diagnostic tests [...] 445) were tested for malaria by RDT and 39% prescribed an anti-malarial, inclusive of 98.2% of RDT positive patients and 19.8% of RDT negative cases. The availability and use of malaria RDTs was greater in [...] CONCLUSIONS: PNG has achieved high coverage of malaria RDTs and AL at the...
Seeking treatment for symptomatic malaria in Papua New Guinea (Publications)
reported suffering from malaria in the previous four weeks. A probit model was then used to identify the factors determining whether or not people sought treatment for presumptive malaria. Multinomial logit [...] BACKGROUND: Malaria places a significant burden on the limited resources of many low income countries. Knowing more about why and where people seek treatment will enable policy makers to better allocate [...] resources. This study aims to better understand what influences...
Naturally acquired immune responses to <em>P. vivax</em> merozoite surface protein 3alpha and merozoite surface protein 9 are associated with reduced... (Publications)
is the most geographically widespread human malaria parasite. Cohort studies in Papua New Guinea have identified a rapid onset of immunity against vivax-malaria in children living in highly endemic areas [...] and Merozoite Surface Protein 9 (PvMSP9) were measured and related to prospective risk of P. vivax malaria during 16 months of active follow-up. Overall, there was a low prevalence of antibodies to PvMSP3alpha [...] PvMSP9 N-terminus (aIRR = 0.68, p = 0.035) were associated with protection...