The University of Queensland will be at the forefront of renewed global efforts to eliminate malaria, thanks to a new, AusAID-funded support centre at its School of Population Health.
The Pacific Malaria Initiative Support Centre (PacMISC) is part of a $25 million AusAID commitment to intensified malaria control and progressive elimination in the South-West Pacific.
PacMISC Director, Dr Andrew Vallely, said the Centre would initially focus on Vanuatu and Solomon Islands but may be extended to Papua New Guinea within the next two or three years.
Dr Vallely said that, while countries in the developed world largely conquered malaria in the 1950s and 1960s, malaria was still a major public health threat and responsible for an estimated two to three million deaths every year in many low and middle-income countries.
Based at the School of Population Health, the Support Centre is a consortium between three Brisbane-based institutions, Dr Vallely said.
“The Centre is a partnership between SPH UQ, the Australian Army Malaria Institute (AMI) and the Queensland Institute for Medical Research (QIMR)," he said.
"Together, members of this consortium are providing highly-flexible, focussed and demand-driven assistance to the national malaria control programs in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
“For example, we were asked by the Ministry of Health to investigate the acceptability of different types of insecticide-treated bednets in Solomon Islands and will soon complete a randomised controlled trial that will inform national policy”.
The Vanuatu Ministry of Health, supported by a field team from AMI, recently completed one of the largest malaria assessment surveys every conducted in Melanesia in preparation for the malaria elimination program in Tafea Province.
A similar survey will be completed in Temotu Province, Solomon Islands, in November this year.
The consortium will also actively work with other research and academic centres outside of Brisbane, according to partner country needs.
“We certainly recognise the importance of bringing in additional expertise where required and have already started consulting colleagues at other institutions within Australia and worldwide to try and identify how best to meet future country priorities, particularly operational research needs,” Dr Vallely said.
He believed malaria elimination in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu was achievable, but the use of new tools such as rapid diagnostic tests, artemisinin-based drug therapy and long-lasting insecticide treated bednets was only part of the answer.
“Our priority is to assist countries to build their human resource base and health system infrastructure,” he said.
“Without a foundation based on effective program management, efficient logistics and procurement, and robust monitoring and evaluation, it will not be possible to roll back malaria, island-by-island and region-by-region, in the Pacific’.
“For example, we will help our partners to engage with a variety of community-based organisations, women’s groups, churches and other civil society groups to ensure that key components of the expanded malaria program in each country are implemented in ways which are locally-appropriate and acceptable to communities.”
MEDIA: Dr Vallely (07 3346 4970) or Tegan Taylor at UQ Communications (07 3365 2659).
