Program aims:

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis and multidrug-resistant (MDR) malaria pose major public health challenges, threatening health security across the Asia-Pacific region. Our team has a proven 20-year record of strengthening research collaboration in Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea and in facilitating implementation of research findings into policy and practice.  We will work with partners from our regional networks to increase the research capacity and expertise of our partners, developing and testing health systems strategies to prevent and contain multidrug-resistant malaria and TB, and strengthening the capacity of health systems.

This will expand our system strengthening activities, and regional collaborations established with the Tropical Disease Research Regional Collaboration Initiative (TDRRCI). We will build upon our existing capacity development, to scale up new health interventions that address health security and achieve policy transfer, driven by systems-oriented implementation research

  • improving service delivery for the prevention and treatment of infection
  • implementing new approaches to tuberculosis case detection and prevention, particularly multi-drug resistant strains
  • molecular surveillance for monitoring the emergence and spread of MDR organisms at sentinel sites, so that healthcare resources can be prioritised for high risk populations
  • The team will support and upskill local researchers to address both diseases
Chief Investigator:
Co-investigators
Associate Investigators
  • Doctor Sarah Auburn- Menzies School of Health Research
  • Doctor Geoff Chan - Burnet Institute 
  • Associate Professor Christopher Coulter - Queensland Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory
  • Doctor Paison Dakulala - National Department of Health, Papua New Guinea
  • Angela Devine – University of Oxford, UK
  • Associate Professor Freya Fowkes - University of Melbourne, Monash University
  • Doctor Enny Kenangalem - Papuan Community Health and Development Foundation, Indonesia
  • Doctor Trisasi Lestari - Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia
  • Professor Koen Peeters - Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium
  • Doctor Leanne Robinson – Burnet Institute
Program Manager:
Program Dates: 
  • July 2018 - June 2021
Funders:

Collaborators:
Australian partners
Menzies School of Health Research Darwin

Lead organisation; Medical research institute

Burnet Institute Melbourne Consortium partner; Medical research institute; International development organisation
Queensland Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory (QMRL) Brisbane Supranational reference laboratory for TB including for PNG providing capacity development in WGS
 
International partners: 
Papuan Health and Community Development Foundation Non-Government Organisation Papua, Indonesia Delivery of field activities for TB and malaria systems strengthening in Papua
Rumah Sakit Mitra Masyarakat Health services Papua, Indonesia Will participate in the adherence interventions and surveillance of impact 
Mimika District Health Authority Government Papua, Indonesia The DHO will work in community health systems strengthening in Papua
Eijkman Institute of Molecular Biology Research institute Jakarta, Indonesia Undertake the molecular analysis of TB and malaria in Indonesia
Gadjah Mada University University Yogyakarta, Indonesia The university provides supervision and training for TB activities in eastern Indonesia
National Department of Health Government Papua New Guinea Stewardship of MDR-TB response in PNG providing knowledge dissemination and policy translation
Western Province Health Office Government Papua New Guinea Stewardship of Daru TB program, capacity building, community engagement and systems strengthening
Central Public Health Laboratory Government Papua New Guinea Provide laboratory diagnostics, national surveillance for TB and collaborate with QMRL
Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp University Antwerp, Belgium Medical Anthropology Unit (Al Peeters) will help to design, implement and analyse the mixed methods in Papua
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute Research institute Cambridge, United Kingdom Design and analysis of amplicon sequencing of P.falciparium and P.vivax
Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network Non-Government Organisation Singapore Wider community engagement and dissemination of malarial activities
WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network University Oxford, United Kingdom Geospatial mapping / online presentation of molecular markers of antimalarial drug resistance

 

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