Nature Medicine is very grateful for support from The UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) who are generously supporting this web site.
Unfortunately, the prevalence of malaria has been increasing, and around 400 million people now suffer from the disease, with 130 million new cases occurring annually. This rise can be attributed to the development of resistance by P. falciparum to commonly used anti-malarial drugs, to the resistance of mosquitoes to insecticides, and possibly to climatic changes that have enlarged areas of disease transmission.
From our sponsors:
The UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) (http://www.who.int/tdr) and the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) (http://www.mmv.org) are proud to sponsor this innovative web site prepared by Nature Medicine, which further makes available and accessible the exploding amount of scientific knowledge that is being generated on malaria.
Malaria is among the most significant infectious diseases in the world, accounting for up to 9% of total disease burden in some sub-Saharan African countries. The importance of research in the fight against malaria has been most notably realized in the Roll Back Malaria project initiated by Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Director General of WHO, which has rapidly developed into a global partnership to combat the disease (http://www.rbm.who.int). TDR is the primary research arm of Roll Back Malaria and promotes research and capability, strengthening activities across a broad spectrum of scientific endeavor, from molecular based studies through to clinical and operational research. MMV is a specialized key component of Roll Back Malaria's strategy, based on a partnership between public sector agencies and the pharmaceutical industry, to develop new drugs to combat the ever pervasive rise of drug resistance.
The completion of the P. falciparum genome (and the human genome) in the near future, the likelihood of further genomic information on several parasite strains and species and the ability to access data and design experiments at a genome-wide level will open up tremendous possibilities to advance our knowledge of the parasite and disease. Dramatic advances are also being made in the molecular entomology of certain mosquito species such as Anopheles gambiae. In addition to this explosion of molecular and cellular data, we are also in an era where important advances are being achieved in developing new chemistry tools to aid in drug discovery and development. The use of insecticide impregnated bednets together with the development of improved capabilities to carry out clinical and field research and implement results within national frameworks are also radically affecting the research community's ability to make an impact.
TDR has been making an impact on tropical disease research and ensuring enhanced research capability in developing countries now for 25 years1. MMV is a younger organization, created in November 1999 as an independent not-for-profit foundation, that has been initially incubated and housed within TDR. Both organizations recognize that they have been established as unique organizational partnerships involving many stakeholders, thus enabling them to address issues relating to malaria research on a global scale and contribute to the global goal of Rolling Back Malaria. Both organizations also recognize the need to work in partnership with other scientific and development agencies, with industry and with national governments to achieve their goals and help combat malaria. We therefore specifically welcome malaria's early inclusion as a topic on the Nature Medicine web page and Nature Medicine's partnership in the global effort.
Research scientists may be interested to know that MMV is now undergoing a second round of drug discovery and development project selection for which the closing date is September 30th and TDR has numerous funding possibilities for a variety of disciplines. Researchers interested in finding out more about these funding possibilities are directed to the respective web sites (www.who.int/tdr and http://www.mmv.org).
