Determinants of Malaria Disease in Malawi

预防、控制和消除疟疾活动的成功取决于持续实施有效和目标明确的干预措施。开发创新方法和建立既定方法的新应用需要多学科研究。研究应在疟疾流行的生态范围内进行。与政策制定者的密切协调促进了从“数据”到政策的过渡。马拉维是南部非洲的一个内陆国家，是进行变革性疟疾研究的理想场所。马拉维境内几乎拥有与疟疾防治有关的所有生态地理环境。马拉维的疟疾研究已经进行了20多年，主要集中在马拉维大学医学院。国家疟疾控制方案是马拉维的相关决策机构，它已经做出了一系列数据驱动的决定，它与医学院的研究人员有着密切的联系。马拉维ICEMR将利用所有这些优势，建立一个能够为设计、实施和评估疟疾控制和预防战略奠定科学基础的自我维持的研究实体。核心活动（行政，数据管理和生物统计学，分子和基因组学）将设在医学院，研究活动将在3个流行病学不同的地点进行，所有地点都位于50公里内。研究的主要目标是确定、了解和评价针对疟疾疾病决定因素的干预措施。我们将通过使用新开发的分子和基因组工具结合成熟的流行病学方法系统地调查媒介、宿主和寄生虫群体来实现这些目标。介绍了四个协同项目（两个在流行病学领域，两个在传播领域）。我们将通过现有和新的沟通渠道，确保研究结果对政策制定产生影响。 在这项工作中建立的监测机制将为确定这些政策对疟疾感染和疾病的影响提供一个机制。

Successful malaria prevention, control and elimination activities depend on the sustained application of effective and well-targeted interventions. Developing innovative approaches and establishing novel applications of established approaches requires multi-disciplinary research. The research should be carried out in sites which span the ecological spectrum in which malaria thrives. Close coordinafion with policy makers enhances the transition from "data" to policy. Malawi, a landlocked country in southern Africa, is the ideal setting for transformative malaria research. Malawi contains within its boundaries nearly all of the ecogeographic settings relevant to malaria control. Malaria research in Malawi has been ongoing for over 20 years, and is concentrated in its one medical school, the University of Malawi College of Medicine. The National Malaria Control Programme, the relevant policy-making body in Malawi, has made a series of data driven decisions, and its link with investigators in the College of Medicine is strong. The Malawi ICEMR will harness all of these advantages to establish a self-sustaining research entity capable of developing the scientific basis for designing, implementing, and evaluating malaria control and prevention strategies. Core activities (Administrative, Data Management and Biostatistics, and Molecular and Genomic) will be based in the College of Medicine, and research activities will take place in 3 epidemiologically diverse sites, all located within 50 kilometers of each other. The primary objectives of the research are to identify, understand and evaluate interventions that target the determinants of malaria disease. We will accomplish these objectives by systematically surveying populations of vectors, hosts and parasites using newly developed molecular and genomic tools in conjunction with well-established epidemiologic approaches. Four synergistic Projects (two in the area of epidemiology, and two in transmission) are described. Through existing and new communication channels we will ensure that research findings are brought to bear on policy development. The surveillance mechanisms established during this work will provide a mechanism for determining the impact of those policies on malaria infection and disease.