The application of evolutionary medicine principles for sustainable malaria control: a scoping study

Abstract Background Current interventions against malaria have significantly reduced the number of people infected and the number of deaths. Concerns about emerging resistance of both mosquitoes and parasites to intervention have been raised, and questions remain about how best to generate wider knowledge of the underlying evolutionary processes. The pedagogical and research principles of evolutionary medicine may provide an answer to this problem. Methods Eight programme managers and five academic researchers were interviewed by telephone or videoconference to elicit their first-hand views and experiences of malaria control given that evolution is a constant threat to sustainable control. Interviewees were asked about their views on the relationship between practit groups and academics and for their thoughts on whether or not evolutionary medicine may provide a solution to reported tensions. Results There was broad agreement that evolution of both parasites and vectors presents an obstacle to sustainable control. It was also widely agreed that through more efficient monitoring, evolution could be widely monitored. Interviewees also expressed the view that even well planned interventions may fail if the evolutionary biology of the disease is not considered, potentially making current tools redundant. Conclusions This scoping study suggests that it is important to make research, including evolutionary principles, available and easily applicable for programme managers and key decision-makers, including donors and politicians. The main conclusion is that sharing knowledge through the educational and research processes embedded within evolutionary medicine has potential to relieve tensions and facilitate sustainable control of malaria and other parasitic infections.

Tags
Data and Resources
To access the resources you must log in

This item has no data

Identity

Description: The Identity category includes attributes that support the identification of the resource.

Field Value
PID https://www.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3614144.v1
PID https://www.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3614144
URL https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3614144.v1
URL https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3614144
Access Modality

Description: The Access Modality category includes attributes that report the modality of exploitation of the resource.

Field Value
Access Right not available
Attribution

Description: Authorships and contributors

Field Value
Author Ocampo, Denise
Author Booth, Mark
Publishing

Description: Attributes about the publishing venue (e.g. journal) and deposit location (e.g. repository)

Field Value
Collected From Datacite
Hosted By figshare
Publication Date 2016-12-14
Publisher Figshare
Additional Info
Field Value
Language Undetermined
Resource Type Dataset
keyword FOS: Biological sciences
keyword FOS: Health sciences
system:type dataset
Management Info
Field Value
Source https://science-innovation-policy.openaire.eu/search/dataset?datasetId=dedup_wf_001::48ca9d5c057ff59d64b4d802e3a9bac1
Author jsonws_user
Last Updated 13 January 2021, 15:57 (CET)
Created 13 January 2021, 15:57 (CET)