Initiative Public Health

Malaria Elimination through Innovative Vector Control

The Opportunity

Malaria deaths dropped by nearly half between 2000 and 2013, according to the World Health Organization. However, there were still over 200 million malaria cases and approximately 429,000 malaria-related deaths in 2015. Bold research and additional investment are urgently needed to identify and prioritize new or underutilized tools against the Anopheles mosquito that transmits the disease in order to achieve global malaria eradication. However, about 40 of the 430 species of Anopheles mosquito efficiently transmit malaria. And, since each species has distinct ecological and biological characteristics, no universal solution for mosquito control exists.

The Initiative

The Parker Foundation’s support for the Global Health Group’s Malaria Elimination Initiative (MEI) at the University of California San Francisco enabled a comprehensive review of successful vector control tools and strategies from the past, present and future for malaria and other vector-borne diseases,. The research also generated new robust evidence through modeling and spatial analyses on factors that influence malaria transmission in different settings today, to identify high-impact approaches to radically reduce transmission. Examples include improved housing materials, environmental engineering, aerial insecticide spraying to kill mosquito larvae, and new tools under development, such as transgenic mosquitoes, fungal biopesticides, and nanoparticle insecticide delivery that controls the release of insecticides over time or by using triggers such as rainfall or temperature. UCSF researchers also learned from other efforts against mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue and chikungunya. The Global Health Group engaged a wide range of entomological, epidemiological and modeling experts from California and around the world to advance this work.

Leadership

Sir Richard Feachem, KBE, CBE, BSc, PhD, DSc(Med), FREng, HonFFPHM, HonDEng
  • Director of the Global Health Group
  • Professor of Global Health
  • University of California San Francisco