HWN Suggests

Beating malaria: what can be done with shrinking funds and rising threats

We cannot fight tomorrow’s malaria with yesterday’s tools. Resistance, climate-driven shifts in transmission, and urbanisation are changing malaria’s patterns. This is why re-imagining our approach is urgent. African countries must scale up innovations like the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine and next-generation mosquito nets. But more importantly, they must build their own capacity to develop, test and produce these tools. This requires investing in research and development, regional regulatory harmonisation, and local manufacturing.

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 New research suggests a way to prevent the spread of Malaria

Researchers say it'll take several more years of research to even get to the point of field trials. But this study shows that in principle, a tiny tweak to the genome might someday render a whole mosquito population incapable of spreading this deadly disease.

Articles of Interest

Artificial light may become a new weapon in the fight to control malaria

My research explores one such potential strategy: the use of artificial lights to trick malaria-transmitting mosquito species that feed nocturnally into behaving as if it’s daytime. This may deter feeding, helping to keep people safe from malaria-carrying mosquito bites.

Building a Cure for Malaria

Each strategy for combating malaria interrupts a different part of this cycle: insecticide treated bednets stop infectious mosquitoes from biting humans and releasing sporozoites into the body, while rapid diagnostic tests and treatment help nip an infection in the bud before it turns deadly. If we could fully interrupt the cycle, even temporarily, we could eliminate malaria in endemic areas.

How ingredients in everyday soap could help fight malaria

Adding liquid soap can boost the potency of some of the pesticides used on malaria-carrying mosquitoes. The discovery is detailed in a study published November 17 in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases and offers a tool in the fight against the disease.

In Fight Against Malaria, an Unexpected — and Snuggly — Shield

Treating baby wraps with a mosquito repellent shows promising protection against a top killer of children.

Malaria control needs longer lasting repellents. We’re a step closer to finding one

These interventions have one big flaw, however. They focus on minimising malaria infections indoors. Infections can still occur outdoors. And in some African countries resistance to insecticides – especially pyrethroids – is emerging. So new methods to control mosquitoes are needed urgently. Numerous repellent-based products, such as creams, roll-ons and sprays, are available on the market for outdoor protection. Most of these have a very short period of protection – a few hours. People need to be protected from mosquito bites for longer.

Mosquito nets are often used for fishing. A smart response is needed

The human race is extremely resourceful, particularly when resources are limited. Inevitably, when poor rural communities are given access to a new asset they will find a number of uses for them. Anti-malarial bednets - the fine-mesh nets used to protect people from mosquito bites while they sleep – are a good case in point.

New types of mosquito bed nets could cut malaria risk by up to half, trial finds

Two new types of mosquito bed nets have been found to reduce cases of malaria by up to a half, raising hopes of combating the disease, which is becoming increasingly resistant to treatments and prevention efforts. Nets treated with two types of insecticide rather than one were trialled in 17 African countries where malaria is endemic between 2019 and 2022. Among the countries taking part was Nigeria, which accounts for more than a quarter of global deaths from the disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes.

Scientists engineer mosquito STD to combat malaria

To combat the deadly diseases spread by mosquitoes, entomologists often turn to the blood-sucking insect’s reproductive life. Deactivating their sperm, using a mosquito kill bucket to take out mosquito larvae, and now researchers are creating something akin to a sexually-transmitted disease just for mosquitoes. In a study published earlier this year in the journal Scientific Reports, a team of scientists from the United States and Burkina Faso in West Africa, detailed how they delivered a deadly fungal infection to female mosquitoes. The females are the ones who bite and spread disease to humans.

The Unsustainability of Long-Lasting Insecticidal Nets

Long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) are highly effective tools for malaria prevention, and it is clear bed nets are necessary. However, given the environmental concerns of the production, distribution, and disposal of LLINs, the malaria prevention community should look to design sturdier nets that last longer and are made of more sustainable materials to reduce harmful environmental impacts in a time when addressing climate change is urgent.

To fight malaria, scientists want to poison mosquitoes—with human blood

Low doses of a drug already approved for treating rare genetic conditions in humans kills mosquitoes dead. Scientists say it could be a valuable new tool in the fight against disease.

Why Did It Take 35 Years to Get a Malaria Vaccine?

The parasite’s complex biology played a role in the delay, but experts say there was also a lack of urgency and funding

Why nets?

The most effective means of preventing malaria is sleeping under a mosquito net, specifically a long-lasting insecticide treated net (LLIN). Malaria is transmitted by certain mosquitoes when they bite. These mosquitoes bite people to get a blood meal. The malaria parasite then passes from the infected mosquito to the person being bitten. They typically bite between 10 o'clock at night and two in the morning - and that's one of the most important things we have on our side: if we can protect people in affected areas when they sleep at night we have a very good chance of preventing them contracting malaria.