Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease Webinar | Malaria Chemoprevention Strategies
the chair
1st Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease Webinar
Malaria Chemoprevention Strategies
Chemoprevention strategies are expected to contribute significantly to malaria control and elimination if largely deployed in malaria endemic settings. Intervention such as intermittent preventive treatment in pregnant women (IPTp) and seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) have proven to be highly effective, even though development of resistance to the current regimens (sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and amodiaquine) warrants the implementation of alternative antimalarial drugs in the near future. Intermittent preventive treatment in infants (IPTi) has been shown to have a substantial impact on morbidity and malaria-related anemia, but its full impact is yet to be investigated in large-scale implementation studies. As transmission decreases in some settings, there is an age shifting of disease burden in older infants, and intermittent preventive treatment in schoolchildren (IPTc) is being explored in some countries. Mass drug administration (MDA) is another strategy, mainly used in elimination settings that has been shown to work in some settings, but not in others. Specific strategies are also needed for P.vivax, as the implementation of radical cure drug-based strategies is associated with potential lethal hemolysis in G6PD-deficient patients. To maximize the impact of all those interventions, new antimalarial drugs will be required, as the effectiveness of those currently used is either decreasing or may decrease in the near future. In the meantime, innovative strategies must be implemented to extend the useful therapeutic lifespan of the antimalarial drugs we currently have, and different drugs should be used for chemoprevention and case management to reduce drug pressure and minimize the chances of drug resistance development. In this webinar, we have invited three experts to discuss about the challenges in the implementation of chemoprevention strategies in malaria endemic countries.
Date: 28 March 2022
Time: 1:30pm CEST | 7:30am EDT | 7:30pm CST Asia
Webinar ID: 872 1424 5786
Webinar Secretariat: tropicalmed.webinar@mdpi.com
Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Kamala Ley-Thriemer
Global and Tropical Health Divisions, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia;
Associate Professor Kamala Ley-Thriemer is a CSL Centenary Fellow at Menzies School of Health Research. Her main research interest is to develop and optimise treatment options against vivax malaria in south-east Asia and the Horn of Africa. She leads a research program spanning from clinical trials and epidemiological studies to policy and implementation research. She also teaches in Menzies Postgraduate Public Health programs for Charles Darwin University.
Prof. Dr. Sunil Parikh
Yale School of Public Health, Laboratory of Epidemiology and Public Health, New Haven, USA;
Professor Parikh’s is a physician-scientist with over 20 years of experience working in malaria. He completed his medical training at Johns Hopkins, Internal Medicine residency at the Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston, MPH at UC Berkeley, and infectious disease fellowship at UCSF where he stayed on as faculty for 8 years before joining the Yale School of Public Health in 2012. His research focuses on translational studies of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, working in Burkina Faso, Uganda, and Cameroon. Dr. Parikh’s work in Uganda focuses on optimizing ACT regimens in vulnerable populations. Studies with the Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration, UCSF, and Baylor, combine intensive and population pharmacokinetic data with host parasite and drug resistance dynamics. In Burkina Faso, his long-standing collaboration with the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Sante focuses on the novel endectocide, ivermectin, as well as studies on antimalarial drug resistance surveillance in the setting of chemoprevention and treatment.
Dr. Christian Nsanzabana
Department of Medicine, Medicines Development Unit, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Switzerland;
Dr Christian Nsanzabana is a biologist by training, and has more than 15 years’ experience in malaria research going from basic to translational and implementation research. He completed his PhD in Molecular Epidemiology at the University of Neuchâtel in 2008, followed by one year at the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS), overseeing different projects assessing the efficacy of new products for malaria vector control. Between 2010 and 2015, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and University of Oxford, where he worked on mode of actions and mechanisms of resistance of antimalarial drugs, and meta-analyses to assess the factors affecting efficacy drugs, respectively. He further worked with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) on the quality control of malaria rapid diagnostic test. He is currently a Group Leader at Swiss TPH, where he leads the Malaria Genotyping Group.
Sponsors and Partners
organizer
On Monday, 28 March 2022, MDPI and the Journal Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease organized their very 1st webinar entitled "Malaria Chemoprevention Strategies".
The first Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease Webinar gathered malaria experts to discuss about challenges associated with the implementation of malaria chemoprevention strategies. A general introduction was held by one of the chairs of the event, Dr. Christian Nsanzabana, Group Leader at Swiss TPH, where he leads the Malaria Genotyping Group. His main research interest has been related to the assessment of the efficacy of new products for malaria vector control, to study the mode of actions and mechanisms of resistance of antimalarial drugs, and checking the quality control of malaria rapid diagnostic tests. The other two chairs, in charge of co-chairing the event, presenting some of the speakers and participating on the Q&A session were Associate Professor Kamala Ley-Thriemer who is a CSL Centenary Fellow at Menzies School of Health Research. Her main research interest is to develop and optimise treatment options against vivax malaria in south-east Asia and the Horn of Africa. And finally, Prof. Dr. Sunil Parikh who is a physician-scientist with over 20 years of experience working in malaria. His research focuses on translational studies of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, working in Burkina Faso, Uganda, and Cameroon.
The first presentation was given by Dr. André-Marie Tchouatieu from MMV, who opened the session with a talk on the perceptions on chemoprevention from an end-user perspective, shedding light on potential barriers, and explaining why some strategies were more successful than others were. Dr. Jane Achan from Malaria Consortium discussed about challenges in implementing mass drug administration, including biological, logistical and financial challenges, but also key lessons learnt for successful implementation. Dr. Raquel Gonzalez from ISGlobal concluded the session summarizing the data from research conducted over the last 20 years to find alternative drugs for intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy, highlighting the challenges to find a safe and affordable alternatives to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. The general discussion emphasized the need to develop tailored interventions to local epidemiological context, using chemoprevention strategies as additional tools to existing vector control strategies..
The presentations were followed by a Q&A and a discussion, moderated by the Chairs. The webinar was offered via Zoom and required registration to attend. The full recording can be found here on Sciforum website. In order to stay updated on the next webinars on Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, be sure to sign up for our newsletter by clicking on “Subscribe” at the top of the page.
Guest Editors: Dr. Christian Nsanzabana, Dr. Kamala Ley-Thriemer & Prof. Dr. Sunil Parikh
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2022