GMAP

[Full Table of Contents]
[Executive Summary]

[Part II: The Global Strategy] PDF version

  1. Introduction to the Global Strategy
  2. Control: Overcoming malaria
    1. Scale Up for Impact: Achieving Universal Coverage
    2. Sustained Control: Maintaining Coverage and Utilization
  3. Elimination and Eradication: Achieving Zero Transmission
  4. The Malaria Research Agenda
    1. Research & Development for New and Improved Tools
    2. Research to Inform Policy
    3. Operational and Implementation Research
  5. Costs and Benefits of Investment in Malaria Control

Part II: The Global Strategy

2. Control: Overcoming Malaria

4. The Malaria Research Agenda

Key messages

  • Three categories of research are needed for effective malaria control and elimination:
    1) Research and development (R&D) for new or improved anti-malaria interventions including drugs, vector control tools, diagnostics and vaccines.
    • For control, tools for all types of malaria are needed which:
      • Increase operational ease of use and compliance,
      • Delay the emergence of resistance,
      • Serve underserved populations, including those in emergency situations,
      • Remove cost barriers, and
      • Provide consistently accurate diagnosis.
    • For elimination, tools are needed which:
      • Interrupt and sustain interruption of transmission, and
      • Address asymptomatic reservoirs.
  • 2) Research to inform policy decisions to define the type of interventions and programs best suited for the global, regional and country context.
  • 3) Operational and implementation research to understand use and effectiveness of interventions in the field and improve the delivery and quality of prevention and treatment.
    • Formal consultative processes are being established to define the R&D agenda for tools for elimination and eradication.
    • A similar consultative process is recommended for research to inform policy and for operational and implementation research.

Despite the efficacy of today’s tools, achieving near-term goals of reducing incidence and reducing mortality as well as the longer term goals of elimination and eradication will require new and improved tools that are effective across a variety of settings and populations. Strategies for scaling up, sustaining control and elimination cannot be discussed without acknowledging the crucial role that research plays in enabling these strategies’ success. Lessons learned from the field will feed back into the R&D process, thus informing new research directions.

Three kinds of research are needed to achieve both the near-term and long-term goals

  1. Research and development to improve and develop new anti-malaria interventions, including drugs, vector control tools, diagnostics, and vaccines
  2. Research to inform policy decisions at international and country levels
  3. Operational and implementation research designed to understand the use and effectiveness of interventions in the field, and to improve the delivery, quality, equity and effectiveness surrounding malaria prevention and treatment.