Who Malaria Policy Advisory Group Mpag Meeting Report 18 20 April 2023

On 18–20 April 2023, the WHO Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) convened to review updates and progress, and to provide guidance on thematic areas of work by the Global Malaria Programme. The meeting focused on the following topics: 1) the RBM Partnership to End Malaria evaluation of the “High burden to high impact” (HBHI) approach; 2) updates on the vector control, treatment and diagnostic recommendations in the WHO guidelines for malaria; 3) revisiting comparative effectiveness in the context of the arrival of new vector control products; 4) an update on certification of malaria elimination and the E-2025 Global Forum; 5) an update on the RTS,S/AS01 Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme and WHO evidence review for the R21/Matrix-M vaccine; 6) an update on the work areas of the Strategic Information for Response Unit; 7) a report from the technical consultation on the effectiveness of rectal artesunate (RAS) and field implementation manual; 8) a report from the technical consultation on community-based delivery of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp); 9) an update on the WHO/TDR field implementation manual for seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC); 10) an update on the Anopheles stephensi regional strategy; 11) an update on histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP2) gene deletions and global response plan; and 12) an update on antimalarial drug resistance in Africa.

Organ transplantation has revolutionized the treatment for end-stage organ failure. Immunosuppression is still a major approach currently used in the prevention and treatment of allograft rejection. Both editors Dr. Chen and Dr. Qian have been contributing to preclinical evaluation of immunosuppressants for more than 25 years in North America. Experts from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, China, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Hungary and Brazil contributed 23 chapters to this book, providing details of immunological basis in transplantation. They also describe six classes of immunosuppressive agents (calcineurin inhibitors, mTOR inhibitors, JAK-STAT inhibitors, antiproliferative agents, costimulation blockers and corticosteroids), as well as ischemia/reperfusion injury treated agents. Additionally, the new development of cell therapy in the induction of transplant tolerance is introduced. This book provides many important references for the research direction of novel immunosuppressants. Readers that will find this book useful include transplant physicians, surgeons, nurses, immunologists, pharmacologists, pharmacists, medical students, residents and trainees in transplantation.

The World Malaria Report 2015assesses global malaria disease trends and changes in the coverage and financing of malaria control programs between 2000 and 2015. It also summarizes progress towards international targets, and provides regional and country profiles that summarize trends in each WHO region and each country with malaria. The report is produced with the help of WHO regional and country offices, ministries of health in endemic countries, and a broad range of other partners. The data presented are assembled from the 96 countries and territories with ongoing malaria transmission, and a further five countries that have recently eliminated malaria. Most data are those reported for 2014 and 2015, although in some cases projections have been made into 2015, to assess progress towards targets for 2015.

In this radical new book, Patrick Chabal reveals how the future of the West is now inextricably linked to that of the non-West. The rise of the economic power of China and other Asian countries as well as urgent environmental issues now force the West to think in new ways about how to best face the future. This is an issue which runs far deeper than present debates on the decline of the West might suggest. The book argues that the postcolonial challenge, from regions such as Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, as well as the influence of citizens of non-Western origins now living in the West have combined to expose the limits of Western rationality - that is, the theories and concepts we currently use to understand and act upon the world. Discussing such provocative questions as 'Is it a good idea to build mosques in Europe?' and 'Is Beckham the new black icon?', Chabal explores the growing failure of Western social thought to explain many of our most pressing domestic social and economic issues. He also discusses contentious issues in international relations, such as the spread of democracy and the protection of human rights. He concludes that, ultimately, what the West needs is not more and better theory but an entirely new way of thinking - one that will put an end to its current deep-seated conceit.

Politics and State Building in Solomon Islands examines a crisis moment in recent Solomon Islands history. Contributors examine what happened when unrest engulfed the capital of the small Melanesian country in the aftermath of the 2006 national elections, and consider what these events show about the Solomon Islands political system, the influence of Asian interests in business and politics, and why the crisis is best understood in the context of the country's volatile blend of traditional and modern politics. Until the disturbances of April 2006 and subsequent deterioration in bilateral relations between Australia and Solomon Islands under the Sogavare government, experts had hailed the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) as an unqualified success. Some saw it as a model for 'cooperative intervention' in 'failing states' worldwide. Following these developments success seems less certain and aspects of the RAMSI model appear flawed. Using the case of Solomon Islands, this book raises fundamental questions about the nature of 'cooperative intervention' as a vehicle for state building, asking whether it should be construed as a mainly technical endeavour or whether it is unavoidably a political undertaking with political consequences. Providing a critical but balanced analysis, Politics and State Building in Solomon Islands has important implications for the wider debate about international state-building interventions in 'failed' and 'failing' states.

This report summarizes information received from 106 malaria-endemic countries and from malaria control partners. It highlights continued progress made towards meeting international targets for malaria control to be achieved by 2010 and by 2015. International funds disbursed for malaria control increased from $200 million in 2004 to $1.5 billion in 2009. Since 2008, more than 289 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets have been delivered to sub-Saharan Africa, enough to protect three quarters of the 765 million persons at risk of the disease. Over the last decade, 11 countries in the Africa Region and 32 countries in other regions showed reductions of 50% or greater in either confirmed malaria cases or malaria admissions and deaths. Malaria control is making a major contribution to reducing mortality in children less than 5 years old and to attaining the health-related Millennium Development Goals.

Strategic health planning, the cornerstone of initiatives designed to achieve health improvement goals around the world, requires an understanding of the comparative burden of diseases and injuries, their corresponding risk factors and the likely effects of invervention options. The Global Burden of Disease framework, originally published in 1990, has been widely adopted as the preferred method for health accounting and has become the standard to guide the setting of health research priorities. This publication sets out an updated assessment of the situation, with an analysis of trends observed since 1990 and a chapter on the sensitivity of GBD estimates to various sources of uncertainty in methods and data.