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Infectious disease. Solving the Sisyphean problem of malaria in Zanzibar

Infectious disease. Solving the Sisyphean problem of malaria in Zanzibar
Infectious disease. Solving the Sisyphean problem of malaria in Zanzibar
The Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP), a consensus framework for coordinated action, aims to end malaria deaths by 2015 and eventually to eradicate malaria (1). The plan calls for universal access to effective antimalarial drugs and universal coverage with appropriate vector interventions. Strategic planning for how best to reach these goals has been left to individual countries, some of which have already made plans to eliminate malaria, i.e., to rid their countries of malaria parasites and to suppress transmission from imported malaria (travelers carrying malaria infections from one region into another) so that locally acquired cases are rare (2). Critics have argued that plans for national elimination distract attention and resources from the priority of reducing malaria's heavy burden in sub-Saharan Africa (3) and that a better strategy would be “control,” i.e., reducing malaria to a minor public health problem. These sides reflect the bipolar history of antimalaria efforts. When funding collapsed for a previous attempt to eradicate malaria, control defined the malaria agenda through decades of neglect. Control and elimination are often presented as opposite sides of a debate over how to allocate billions of dollars allocated globally for malaria aid. But a recent study in Zanzibar (4) concluded the dichotomy was false. A more urgent problem is continuity. How can enthusiasm for funding malaria be sustained?
0036-8075
1384-5
Smith, David L.
d2c77135-d4b1-43c6-bec9-495200ce0e9c
Cohen, Justin M.
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Moonen, Bruno
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Tatem, Andrew J.
6c6de104-a5f9-46e0-bb93-a1a7c980513e
Sabot, Oliver J.
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Ali, Abdullah
1247285b-f9d7-464e-8fe6-42b65ee0a8b7
Mugheiry, Sultan M.
b5ba7bd1-af10-433b-b3cb-01edc36236b2
Smith, David L.
d2c77135-d4b1-43c6-bec9-495200ce0e9c
Cohen, Justin M.
7de99049-a4c3-4fa1-8ff8-cc1bc5dcdfc9
Moonen, Bruno
0b3177f5-8f2e-4dd2-9b49-596d53a6000a
Tatem, Andrew J.
6c6de104-a5f9-46e0-bb93-a1a7c980513e
Sabot, Oliver J.
f47bd371-9fdf-4231-86e9-d0d4d4932278
Ali, Abdullah
1247285b-f9d7-464e-8fe6-42b65ee0a8b7
Mugheiry, Sultan M.
b5ba7bd1-af10-433b-b3cb-01edc36236b2

Smith, David L., Cohen, Justin M., Moonen, Bruno, Tatem, Andrew J., Sabot, Oliver J., Ali, Abdullah and Mugheiry, Sultan M. (2011) Infectious disease. Solving the Sisyphean problem of malaria in Zanzibar. Science, 332 (6036), 1384-5. (doi:10.1126/science.1201398).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP), a consensus framework for coordinated action, aims to end malaria deaths by 2015 and eventually to eradicate malaria (1). The plan calls for universal access to effective antimalarial drugs and universal coverage with appropriate vector interventions. Strategic planning for how best to reach these goals has been left to individual countries, some of which have already made plans to eliminate malaria, i.e., to rid their countries of malaria parasites and to suppress transmission from imported malaria (travelers carrying malaria infections from one region into another) so that locally acquired cases are rare (2). Critics have argued that plans for national elimination distract attention and resources from the priority of reducing malaria's heavy burden in sub-Saharan Africa (3) and that a better strategy would be “control,” i.e., reducing malaria to a minor public health problem. These sides reflect the bipolar history of antimalaria efforts. When funding collapsed for a previous attempt to eradicate malaria, control defined the malaria agenda through decades of neglect. Control and elimination are often presented as opposite sides of a debate over how to allocate billions of dollars allocated globally for malaria aid. But a recent study in Zanzibar (4) concluded the dichotomy was false. A more urgent problem is continuity. How can enthusiasm for funding malaria be sustained?

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More information

Published date: 2011
Organisations: Geography & Environment, PHEW – P (Population Health)

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 344448
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/344448
ISSN: 0036-8075
PURE UUID: 906d4b49-3767-48b8-8b12-fc920ea7bc36
ORCID for Andrew J. Tatem: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7270-941X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 31 Oct 2012 11:49
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:43

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Contributors

Author: David L. Smith
Author: Justin M. Cohen
Author: Bruno Moonen
Author: Andrew J. Tatem ORCID iD
Author: Oliver J. Sabot
Author: Abdullah Ali
Author: Sultan M. Mugheiry

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