Malaria Atlas Project

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Malaria Atlas Project
AbbreviationMAP
Formation1 May 2006; 17 years ago (2006-05-01)[1][2]
PurposeDetermining spatial limits of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria at a global scale and its endemicity within this range
HeadquartersPerth, Australia
Region served
Global
Official language
English
Head of Group
Peter Gething
Parent organization
Telethon Kids Institute
Websitemalariaatlas.org
World map of Plasmodium falciparum endemicity in 2010
World map of Plasmodium vivax endemicity in 2010

The Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) is a nonprofit academic group led by Peter Gething, Kerry M Stokes Chair in Child Health, at the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with previous funding also coming from the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. MAP aims to disseminate free, accurate, and up-to-date information on malaria
and associated topics, organised on a geographical basis. The work of MAP falls into three areas:

  • Estimation of the spatial distribution of malaria prevalence and incidence and related topics, such as the spatial distribution of
    antimalarial drugs
    , mosquito vectors, and human blood disorders
  • Disseminating data on malaria via the Repository for Open Access Data (ROAD-MAP) project
  • Providing maps relating to malaria prevalence and related topics for the
    World Health Organization (WHO)
    and other bodies

The MAP team have assembled a unique spatial database on linked information derived from medical intelligence, satellite-derived climate data to constrain the limits of malaria transmission,

biologists, and public health
specialists. Furthermore, where these data have been cleared for release, they are available via a data explorer tool on the MAP website.

History

MAP was founded by Bob Snow and

Simon Hay in 2005 to fill the niche for the malaria control community at a global scale. Between 2012 and 2015, it was led by Peter Gething, Dave Smith, Catherine Moyes, and Simon Hay.[citation needed] The initial focus of MAP centred on predicting the endemicity of Plasmodium falciparum,[5] the most deadly form of the malaria parasite, due to its global epidemiological significance and its better prospects for elimination and control. Work in 2009 began to map the extent and burden of the relatively neglected Plasmodium vivax.[citation needed
]

The Repository for Open Access Data from the Malaria Atlas Project (ROAD-MAP) was established in 2011.[citation needed]

The project moved from the University of Oxford in the UK to the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth, Western Australia, in September 2019.[6]

In late 2023, an East African branch of MAP was established at the Ifakara Health Institute in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.[6]

Academic research

Modelling malaria prevalence

A key aspect of MAP's work is to use statistical approaches to modelling the prevalence of different forms of malaria on a global scale using Bayesian model-based geostatistics.[7]

Plasmodium falciparum prevalence maps

In September 2015, research by MAP published in Nature quantified the attributable effect of malaria disease control efforts in Africa. The results showed Plasmodium falciparum infection prevalence in endemic Africa halved and the incidence of clinical disease fell by 40% between 2000 and 2015. The best estimate is that interventions have averted 663 million clinical cases since 2000. Insecticide-treated nets, the most widespread intervention, were by far the largest contributor. Although still below target levels, current malaria interventions have substantially reduced malaria disease incidence across the continent.[8][9]

Plasmodium vivax prevalence maps

In 2012, MAP published the first global maps for Plasmodium vivax endemicity.[4]

See also

References

  1. PMID 17147467
    .
  2. ^ "MAP Researchers". Malaria Atlas Project. Archived from the original on 5 May 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  3. PMID 25890035
    .
  4. ^
    PMID 22970336.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  5. PMID 22185615
    .
  6. ^ a b "International funding boost for global malaria research". telethonkids.org.au. 20 November 2023. Archived from the original on 29 December 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  7. PMID 21420361
    .
  8. PMID 26375008
    .
  9. ^ "Millions of children's lives saved as malaria deaths plunge: U.N." Reuters. 16 September 2015. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2015.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Malaria_Atlas_Project&oldid=1219044551"