Initiatives on Malaria ... (5)
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Source: <malaria@wehi.edu.au>
Dear colleagues,
Challenging what MIM does/intends to do is good, but we should not
loose sight of the fact that it is primarily a research initiative and
not a control one (despite all the rhetoric to convince us of the con-
trary). Presently responsibility for control rests mainly at WHO with
the CTD (Control of Tropical Diseases) programme. There is an urgent
need to strengthen this programme as well as national programmes, in
line with the true importance of malaria in the world. There are ru-
mours that this will happen but that is another story altogether.
As for MIM and malaria research we should take a hard look at our-
selves, the research community, and ask what our contributions are to
bring a solution to malaria in the world is a reasonably near future.
MIM was designed by research scientists for research scientists and we
should not be surprised that it is only remotely rooted in current con-
trol.
On the other hand we also have to acknowledge that although the worlds
of research and control have occasional overlap, they are essentially
very distinct with different admin structures, people and working prac-
tices. Bridging these worlds is not obvious in most cases. Maybe
stronger national control programmes with their own operational/applied
research structure will generate the power to re-direct malaria re-
search towards perceived needs at the user level. That is rather dif-
ferent from an international initiative designed by European/North
American researchers. In any case, many more resources are required.
Regards to all,
Christian Lengeler
Swiss Tropical Institute
mailto:lengeler@ubaclu.unibas.ch
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