Funders:
- National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Collaborators:
- Dr Rebecca Chisholm, La Trobe University
- Dr David Price, University of Melbourne
Aims:
- Develop a multi-species malaria transmission model to investigate the impact of complementary interventions on multiple malaria species.
- Integrate costs and quality of life data for the economic evaluation of interventions from the beginning of model development to inform efficient resource allocation for malaria.
- Identify key malaria data that should be prioritised for collection to inform policy decisions and the adaptation of our model for other settings, through purpose-built Value of Information analyses.
Summary:
Most malaria cases are caused by two parasite species. While many countries with malaria have both species, decisions about treatment and control of malaria rely on data and mathematical models on one species. Working with policy makers, we have built a novel model that includes both species. This model will explore how species interact and determine how to allocate money on strategies that will maximise health benefits, ensuring that we reach malaria elimination as quickly as possible.
Implications for policy and practice:
Our research has found that a unified radical cure strategy (prescribing an ACT and primaquine to both falciparum and vivax malaria patients) would lead to a substantially lower incidence of malaria cases and deaths overall in Cambodia.
Chief Investigator:
Project manager:
- Catherine Martel
Contact information:
Project dates:
- The project commenced on 1 January 2023.
- Walker CI, Hickson RI, Chang E, Ngor P, Sovannaroth S, Simpson JA, Price DJ, McCaw JM, Price RN, Flegg JA, Devine A (2022). A model for malaria treatment evaluation in the presence of multiple species. arXiv, 2205.01838v2.