Malaria Synergy Program

The Malaria Synergy Program (MSP) brings together experts with complementary expertise into a multidisciplinary program to address major roadblocks to achieving the goals of malaria elimination in the Asia-Pacific region and globally.

Objective 

Malaria is a major global health problem. Progress in reducing the global burden stalled in 2015 and the burden increased in 2020. The Malaria Synergy Program aims to generate new knowledge, tools, and strategies to overcome major roadblocks in malaria detection, treatment, and prevention to accelerate progress towards elimination of malaria caused by P. Falciparum and P. vivax.

Timeline

2023–2028.

Approach

The Malaria Synergy Program investigators and their teams will focus on developing novel approaches to optimise drug treatment, achieving highly efficacious and long-lasting vaccines, and developing novel tools to map and discover drivers of malaria transmission.
 
Our three core themes are:

• new tools to detect and target malaria transmission; develop multi-parameter tools to accurately measure malaria transmission and guide targeted interventions and predict the emergence and spread of drug resistance
• optimising drug treatments and combating resistance;  optimise antimalarial combination therapies to treat drug-resistant P. falciparum malaria and develop strategies to better target P. vivax and clear dormant liver-stage infections
• maximising the efficacy and impact of vaccines; identify the key determinants of vaccine efficacy and longevity and define antigenic diversity of vaccine candidates and identify strategies to overcome vaccine escape.