Abstract

Malaria is today a disease of poverty and underdeveloped countries. In Africa, mortality remains high because there is limited access to treatment in the villages. We should follow in Pasteur's footsteps by using basic research to develop better tools for the control and cure of malaria. Insight into the complexity of malaria pathogenesis is vital for understanding the disease and will provide a major step towards controlling it. Those of us who work on pathogenesis must widen our approach and think in terms of new tools such as vaccines to reduce disease. The inability of many countries to fund expensive campaigns and antimalarial treatment requires these tools to be highly effective and affordable.

1. Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
2. KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Collaboration Programme, Center for Geographic Medicine Research Coast, Post Office Box 230, Kilifi, Kenya
3. Malaria Research and Training Center, Bamako, Mali

Correspondence to: Kevin Marsh² (e-mail: Email: kmarsh@kilifi.mimcom.net)

Correspondence to: Ogobara K. Doumbo³ (e-mail: Email: okd@mrtcbko.malinet.ml)