MALARIA: Africa Fighting Malaria Updates and Events

Africa Fighting Malaria (AFM) seeks to raise awareness of the huge burden of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and promote sensible policies for long-term solutions.

The UN is premature in trying to ban DDT for malaria control Despite the progress that has been made in malaria control and treatment, it remains a serious global health problem.1 Several malarial countries, including some that are striving to eliminate the disease, still rely on dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) for vector control. It is therefore problematic that the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), without the consent of member states, and violating its own treaties, exerts relentless pressure to ban DDT globally. Environmental groups have tried to ban DDT before, but in 2000 the Stockholm Treaty made an exception for DDT in disease vector control, which it deemed "acceptable."2 Thus, the hard work of malaria endemic African countries and a campaign by scientists and physicians warning that hasty elimination would be devastating secured DDT a place in the malaria armamentarium.3    Read More  Other News KENYA: Rapid kits to diagnose malaria MALI: New hope in fight against malaria Scientists find old malaria drug effective Events and Information October 21-24, 2012: World Health Summit in Berlin, Germany. October 31-November 2, 2012: Malaria 2012: Saving Lives in the Asia-Pacific in Sydney, Australia. Check out the book "The Excellent Powder: DDT's Political and Scientific History". How Cellphones Helped Researchers Track Malaria In Kenya  Cellphones are popping up all over in health care these days. They're monitoring our blood sugar, tracking the flu season and even mapping the junk food we eat at night. But compared to a study just published in Science, these crowdsourcing tools look like small potatoes. Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health tracked the texts and calls from nearly 15 million cellphones in Kenya for an entire year and then used the data to make a map for how malaria spreads around the Texas-sized country. The results were unexpected. Read More New malaria ACT treatment requires single dose A new treatment for malaria is reportedly twice as effective as current medicines and may only require a single dose. The most effective medicine currently in use against the mosquito-borne illness is known as artemisinin combination therapy. ACT requires patients to take several pills daily. Patients often fail to correctly follow the regimen, and, as a result, fail to get better, according to InfectionControlToday.com.  Read More  Also on FightingMalaria.org News AFM Articles Research About AFM Contact Us Donate to AFM Please email Africa@fightingmalaria.orgfor more information.