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Malaria Research Factsheet
The Malaria Research Branch focuses on case management and prevention, vaccine and drug efficacy, malaria in pregnancy, monitoring and evaluating malaria control interventions, transmission reduction, surveillance and support to the Kenyan Division of Malaria Control.
Surveillance
To assess the effectiveness interventions that have been rolled out by DOMC to KEMRI/CDC carries out in-patient and out-patient surveillance, recording the percentage of children who have malaria parasites in the blood when they are admitted to Siaya District Hospital or selected health centers. KEMRI/CDC also measures community-level malaria burden through annual community-based surveys that measure the percentage of people who have malaria parasites in the blood or are anemic.
Entomology
The Malaria Research at KEMRI/CDC carries out numerous activities related to the prevention of malaria transmission. These include:
•Evaluating the effectiveness of long lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLITNs) and eave curtains against malaria vectors (the anopheline mosquito)
•Integrated vector control: Bed nets and Larviciding
•Surveillance of insecticide resistance to measure effectiveness of Indoor residual spray (IRS) and ITNs
•Measure indoor and outdoor biting of malaria vectors
Laboratories
The Field Station has sophisticated malaria laboratories with the capability to support epidemiologic studies, conduct research on
•The immunology of malaria in children and pregnant women
•Parasite resistance to antimalarial drugs
•Host genetic risk factors for severe malaria.
The malaria laboratory collaborates with laboratories in CDC Atlanta to evaluate substandard antimalarial drugs use in the community, pharmacokinetics of antimalarials, technology transfer and capacity building.
Collaborations
The KEMRI/CDC Malaria branch collaborates with the MOH by:
•Serving on the Division of Malaria Control (DOMC) technical working groups
•Assisting with the MOH Malaria Case Management Guidelines
•Assisting WHO to evaluate new long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLITNs)
•Technical assistance to President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI)
•Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infants (IPTi) reduces clinical malaria in the first year of life by 25%
•Rapid diagnostic tests for malaria (RDTs) shown to be reliable in diagnosing malaria in rural health facilities
•The dosage of folic acid prescribed during pregnancy in Kenya interferes with the ability of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) to effectively clear malaria parasites
•Implementation of simplified guidelines helps improve coverage of IPTp
•Different long lasting insecticide treated net brands have widely varying durability in the field to prevent malaria
•The combination of Indoor residual spraying (IRS) and insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) can further reduce the burden of malaria in areas of persistent perennial transmission