Malaria | GlobalPost

World Health Organization estimates countries spent $1.8 billion last year on fighting malaria but $5 billion a year is needed.

Dr. Kent Campbell is the director of the Malaria Control Program at PATH, which is focused on developing evidence-based national malaria control programs in Africa. From 2004 through 2008, he served as the program director for the MACEPA (Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa) program at PATH. He has more than 30 years of leadership experience in malaria control and international public health, and he was recently awarded the Le Prince Medal from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. He spoke with GlobalPost about achievements in the fight against malaria and what is needed to bring transmission to zero.

Q: How long have you been working with malaria in global health?

A: I’ve been working in global health since I was in my residency at Harvard in 1972, so that makes it almost 40 years. I began working at the Center for Disease Control when I was serving as a public health service officer. I had an opportunity in that two-year fellowship program at the CDC to work in West Africa on a disease called Lassa fever. That was quite an experience— in fact, I got very sick and it looked like I had Lassa fever. But, as they say, I did survive.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Many of Africa’s anti-malaria drugs are fake or of poor quality, weakening a crucial battle against the world’s deadliest disease, a new investigation has found. Instead of fighting malaria, the bad-quality drugs may actually be accelerating the disease by causing drug resistance.

Malaria deaths rose from 995,000 in 1980 to a peak of 1.82 million in 2004, but since then have been steadily decreasing.

The fake medicine could harm patients and lead to drug resistance among malaria parasites, according to the study published in the Malaria Journal.

GEORGETOWN — While many press to elimination of DDT completely, there is unequivocal evidence that the insecticide is a safe, affordable tool to control malaria.

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