Projects

Challenging the status quo on malaria

Malaria is one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world - Every minute a child under the five years old dies from this preventable disease !

Malaria remains a major public health problem, despite efforts deployed by affected countries. In malaria-endemic areas, the disease takes place in the daily life of the population and the latter tends to accept this situation as their status quo. The death and suffering caused by malaria no longer seem to move and lead to popular mobilization against this disease. When I was a child, some of my friends died. I didn't understand - we had played together a few days before - but it was malaria. As I grew up, it was common for me to miss school because I suffered from the disease. I have continuously experienced the suffering associated with malaria also through a parent whose child had severe malaria. And when I became a parent myself, I was marked by an unfortunate event when my son was admitted to the emergency room at the hospital because of malaria illness. I made the decision to commit myself against this disease so that future generations do not suffer as much as ours from this disease. I firmly believe that it is still possible to work hard and mobilize communities to change this status quo imposed by malaria.

Please join our efforts in saving lives !

Living systematic review for real-time surveillance and mapping of malaria drugs resistance in Africa and beyond

Malaria is one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world. Despite the hope raised by recently developed vaccines, reducing the burden of Plasmodium falciparum malaria still relies primarily on the efficacy of antimalarial drugs. Artemisinin is currently a key molecule for the management of Plasmodium falciparum malaria cases, the most virulent and widespread form of malaria in the world. This molecule has enabled substantial progress to be made in the fight against malaria over the past two decades. However, the P. falciparum parasite succeeded in developing drug resistance to this drug in the mid-2000s in Southeast Asia where it remained confined for nearly 15 years in the Greater Mekong region. Very recently, around 2020, cases of artemisinin-resistant malaria have been reported in Latin America and Africa and pose now a growing challenge to the global malaria control effort. A country like the DRC should attract more attention, as it annually reports more than 10% of the world’s malaria cases and is located in a region where outbreaks of emerging artemisinin resistance have been reported. To overcome this worrisome situation, the development of new drugs that could immediately replace artemisinin-based therapies is still uncertain. Therefore, close monitoring of this resistance is urgently needed to try to maintain the effectiveness of antimalarial drugs, to detect the emergence of resistance foci and to support global health.

This project aims to initiate a living systematic review (LSR) designed as a real-time exercise for continuously summarizing and mapping global evidence identified in the literature on genetic polymorphisms of artemisinin resistance-associated malaria parasites. Specifically, this is expected to be achieved by analyzing the distribution and mapping the coverage of parasites carrying molecular markers of artemisinin resistance. The goal is to provide information enabling health decision-makers to appreciate the dynamics, identify hotspots, discover incipient foci, as well as assess potential regional gaps in monitoring the antimalarial drugs resistance. Hence, this work will ultimately help guide efforts and set public health priorities for the prevention and containment of drug resistance as well as for future investigations in different regions.

Overarching topic : Tracking malaria drug resistance in the DRC, Africa and beyond

Project investigator : Kayiba Kalenda Nadine

Institutions and organisations involved : Department of Virology and Parasitology, Osaka Metropolitan University; Health and Society Research Institute, Catholic University of Louvain; Department of Public Health and Basic Science, University of Mbujimayi; Department of Basic Science, University of Kinshasa

Period : continuous

Understanding the epidemiological profile of malaria and the use of antimalarial measures through community-based surveys in the Democratic Republic of Congo

More than 10% of the world’s malaria cases and deaths are reported each year in the DRC, despite the country having less than 0.02% of the world’s population. If the country really wants to commit to controlling and eliminating this disease, beyond hospital activities, pivotal interventions should target the community where an important reservoir for the transmission of the disease lies. Therefore, ambitious public health policies, based on evidence and conducted at community level are necessary. Yet, the epidemiological situation of malaria in communities in many parts of the country remains little explored. As a result, the use of anti-malaria measures remains monitored in a non-optimal way.

This project has set itself the objective of generating community-based evidence on the epidemiology of malaria in order to support national malaria control policies in reducing the burden of this endemic disease. In its pilot phase, this project targets the Kasai Orientale region, one of the smallest and most landlocked provinces of the DRC, with four specific objectives: (1) to use statistical models to estimate the local prevalence of malaria; (2) to identify the parasite species involved; (3) to analyze the modality of antimalarial care at the household level in the event of a potential episode of malaria; (4) and to assess the community compliance with officially recommended malaria control measures.

Overarching topic : Malaria epidemiology in the DRC’s communities

Project investigator : Ndjibu Mpoji Faustin

Period : 2023-2024

Uncovering the burden and impact of malaria in school-aged children in high-transmission areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Malaria remains a serious public health problem in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). School-age children (5 to 15 years) remain at high risk of malaria infections, development of resistance to antimalarial drugs, and formation of an important reservoir of transmission of infection at the community level. And yet, this category of the population remains poorly covered by measures to fight against malaria while more resources are directed towards the protection of children under 5 and pregnant women. School malaria control programs could help to significantly reduce the burden of malaria in the DRC.

The current project aims to initiate and experiment a school program to fight against malaria in the province of Kasai Oriental in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More specifically, it aims to determine the prevalence of malaria in school-age children in Mbujimayi, to characterize the epidemiological profile of this malaria and its determinants of malaria and to assess its impact on the schooling of children.

Overarching topic : Malaria in school-aged children from the DRC

Project investigator : Yamba Mukendi Alain

Period : 2023-2024