yes, I believe I have also read that, but am afraid I do not have the 
source anymore. YH

On Mon, 21 Nov 2005, Dr. Alhaji S. Jeng wrote:

> YH,
>
> I think I read somewhere, or maybe I saw it on some TV nature program, that
> a fungi has been discovered to which the malaria parasite carrying anopheles
> mosquito is an obligate host. What's happened to those developments? Kindly
> update me on this one. I reckon, such a biological approach to comnbatting
> malaria would be much more environmentally friendly and financially viable
> than the chemical pest management strategies used today. Wouldn't you agree?
>
> Alhaji
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ylva Hernlund" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 4:53 AM
> Subject: Africa: Africanizing Malaria Research (fwd)
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 15:52:38 -0800
> From: [log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Africa: Africanizing Malaria Research
>
>
> Africa: Africanizing Malaria Research
>
> AfricaFocus Bulletin
> Nov 20, 2005 (051120)
> (Reposted from sources cited below)
>
> Editor's Note
>
> Research on malaria must increasingly be centered in Africa and be
> led by African researchers, stressed participants in the Fourth
> Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Pan-African Malaria
> Conference held last week in Cameroon. In addition to a wide
> variety of scientific papers on the latest research, the conference
> featured the designation of researcher Genevieve Giny Fouda Amou'ou
> as recipient of the Young Malaria Scientist Award, and the
> announcement of the move of the MIM secretariat from Stockholm,
> Sweden to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
>
> This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains (1) two press releases from the
> Multilateral Initiative on Malaria, focused on new efforts to build
> sustainable malaria research infrastructures based in Africa. and
> (2) two profiles of African malaria researchers. Other
> announcements and researcher profiles from the conference, held
> from November 13-18 in Yaounde, Cameroon, are available in both
> English and French at http://www.mim.su.se/conference2005
>
> For additional coverage of the conference, visit
> http://www.kaisernetwork.org/mim/index.cfm
>
> For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on health issues, including
> malaria, see http://www.africafocus.org/healthexp.php See in
> particular:
>
> May 4, 2005  Africa: Rolling Back Malaria?
> http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/mal0505.php
>
> and
>
> Apr 19, 2004  Africa: Malaria Action at Issue
> http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/mala0404.php
>
> For current news on malaria in Africa, visit
> http://allafrica.com/malaria
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> African Malaria Scientists Celebrate Arrival of MIM Secretariat to
> African Soil
>
> The Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (Dakar)
>
> Press Release
>
> November 17, 2005
>
> MIM is an international organization dedicated solely to building
> a sustainable malaria research infrastructure in Africa. In 2006
> MIM will officially move its headquarters to Dar es Salaam,
> Tanzania, under the auspices of the African Malaria Network Trust
> (AMANET).
>
> "While the work of scientists from outside Africa continues to be
> critical, the fact remains that African malaria researchers need to
> be involved in parallel if we are going to successfully implement
> new research findings and begin to reverse the situation in malaria
> endemic countries," said Andreas Heddini, secretariat coordinator
> for MIM.
>
> MIM's move to Tanzania means that mobilization, capacity building
> and coordination of malaria research will be directed from Africa
> - the continent which has the highest incidence of malaria and
> suffers most from the devastating human and economic impact of the
> disease. Malaria places a continued unacceptable burden on health
> and economic development in over 100 countries. An estimated
> 350-500 million cases of malaria occur per year - children,
> pregnant women, people living in poverty and people living with
> HIV/AIDS being particularly vulnerable to the disease. More than
> one million people die from malaria every year. Estimates suggest
> that malaria accounts for up to 40% of all public expenditures on
> health and 20-50% of hospital admissions in many countries.
>
> MIM is calling for a new initiative that would focus on
> competitively awarded long-term grants that would be dedicated to
> developing new "centres of excellence" in malaria endemic areas of
> Africa. These centers would serve as hubs for training new
> scientists and assembling interdisciplinary teams for conducting
> malaria research. In addition, an African malaria research and
> control forum will be established to translate malaria research
> results into action which will be coupled with renewed advocacy to
> promote malaria awareness to the general public and among policy
> makers and politicians for political goodwill and increased African
> investments in malaria research and control.
>
> Training and capacity building would occur within the context of
> new investigator-driven research projects directed by African
> scientists and aimed at developing better tools for fighting
> malaria.
>
> "The transfer of MIM headquarters to Tanzania is an enormous
> opportunity. This move is an investment in the future of African
> scientists and, indeed, the future of the African continent
> itself." said Wen Kilama, Managing Trustee of AMANET
> (http://www.amanet-trust.org).
>
> ******************************
>
> Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Seeks International Effort To
> Fortify Africa's Malaria Research Capacity
>
> The Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (Dakar)
>
> November 17, 2005
>
> Yaoundé
>
> Achieving victory over malaria in Africa, a disease that each year
> kills millions and imposes costs that cripple entire economies,
> requires a new internationally funded effort dedicated to training
> and supporting a critical mass of African malaria researchers,
> according to a new plan launched today by the Multilateral
> Initiative on Malaria (MIM) at the Fourth MIM Pan-African Malaria
> Conference in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
>
> "While the work of scientists from outside Africa continues to be
> critical, the fact remains that African malaria researchers need to
> be involved in parallel if we are going to successfully implement
> new research findings and begin to reverse the situation in malaria
> endemic countries," said Andreas Heddini, secretariat coordinator
> for MIM.
>
> MIM is an international organization dedicated solely to building
> a sustainable malaria research infrastructure in Africa. This year
> it will officially move its headquarters to Dar es Salaam,
> Tanzania, under the auspices of the African Malaria Network Trust
> (AMANET).
>
> A 1999 MIM survey reported that there were only 752 trained malaria
> researchers in sub-Saharan Africa, the area of the continent that
> each year endures the brunt of the world's 500 million malaria
> infections and 2.7 million deaths. The number of scientists is
> growing, Heddini said, noting that there are 1,000 African malaria
> researchers attending this week's MIM conference in Yaoundé. But he
> said many more malaria experts are needed, and, to keep them in
> Africa, they must be supported by a system that can provide
> sustainable long-term funding and adequate facilities.
>
> MIM is calling for a new initiative that would focus on
> competitively awarded long-term grants that would be dedicated to
> developing new "centers of excellence" in malaria endemic areas of
> Africa. These centers would serve as hubs for training new
> scientists and assembling interdisciplinary teams for conducting
> malaria research.
>
> Training and capacity building would occur within the context of
> new investigator-driven research projects directed by African
> scientists and aimed at developing better tools for fighting
> malaria. These would include new drugs, vaccines, diagnostic tests,
> treatment strategies, and mosquito control techniques.
>
> "We're not asking for a quick fix here but an investment that
> allows us to establish a research culture focused on malaria, one
> that begins attracting scientists at the undergraduate level," said
> Wen Kilama, Managing Trustee of the African Malaria Network Trust
> (AMANET), which is based in Dar es Salaam.
>
> "We also know that creating a sustainable malaria research
> infrastructure in Africa does not involve simply training 'malaria
> researchers,'" he added. "Given the complex questions that must be
> answered to defeat malaria, when you talk about capacity you are
> talking about scientists with expertise in parasite biology,
> entomologists who can focus on insect control, and toxicologists
> who will understand the effect of drug compounds. You also need
> epidemiologists, biostatisticians and experts in bioethics, and you
> need the information technology and other resources that allow you
> to take the research directly to where the problem is."
>
> As ambitious as it sounds, the good news, Kilama said, is that
> Africa would not be building a malaria network from scratch. Though
> insufficient in number, there is a core group of highly trained
> African experts working in malaria endemic areas, and, in just the
> last few years, their numbers have been growing. For example,
> Kilama said that when he returned three decades ago to Tanzania,
> there were only a couple of PhD's with a good understanding of
> malaria. "Now there are at least 20, and I think we have seen a
> tremendous increase in human resources focused on malaria across
> Africa," he said.
>
> So a new initiative targeted at building capacity would be taking
> advantage of an existing momentum that has brought tangible
> progress to Africa-based malaria work. But Wilfred Mbacham,
> coordinator of the Fourth MIM Pan-African Malaria Conference, said
> unless there is a long-term commitment to their development, there
> is a danger that Africa's new cadre of malaria experts will go the
> way of many of their compatriots-to Europe and North America.
>
> "That is always the dilemma with training African scientists," he
> said. "They become experts and are then encouraged to go work
> overseas. But if they see there is a future to develop
> professionally in their home countries, most will choose to stay."
>
> Ogobara Doumbo, director of the Malaria Research and Training
> Center at the University of Bamako in Mali, said there are many
> areas where having trained African scientists leading malaria
> research teams can accelerate efforts to find new ways to fight the
> disease. For example, he said while there is an urgent need to
> conduct more clinical trials in malaria-affected areas, without
> extensive knowledge of local social and cultural conditions, it can
> be very difficult to recruit patients and obtain informed consent
> in an ethically sound matter.
>
> "In our work in Mali we have developed our own procedures for
> obtaining informed consent that are quite different from what a
> scientist would do in the West," he said. "But without this
> approach, it would have been impossible to accomplish what have
> been very valuable clinical trials. And as we see more and more
> drugs and vaccines that need to be tested in African populations,
> the presence or absence of well-trained African scientists could
> become the critical factor in their success or failure."
>
> *************************************************************
>
> To narrow the gap between science and ordinary life
>
> Francine Ntoumi, MIM/TDR, Hopital Albert Schweitzer in Lambaréné,
> Gabon
>
> - One of my relatives in Brazzaville recently fell very ill in
> malaria, recounts Francine Ntoumi over the phone from her outpost
> in Tuebingen, Germany. The man is well educated, and has a lot of
> respect for me. He wanted to take his ordinary Chloroquine, as he
> used to do all his life when hit by malaria. I told him it is
> counterproductive because of resistance, and to go to the Medical
> doctor. He refused. He said: "You have your theoretical knowledge,
> but I know malaria more than you because I experienced this disease
> all my life. Maybe I need to extend my treatment with Chloroquine
> a few days extra, but that will do it!"
>
> This gap between scientific knowledge and practical use is one of
> the biggest problems in the handling of malaria in real life in
> Africa today, says Francine Ntoumi.
>
> -If I couldn't convince this educated man of the reality of
> resistance, how can I approach those many, probably the majority,
> who believe that death from malaria is brought by witchcraft.
> Actually they don't even regard malaria as a disease to start with;
> it is just something that happens now and then. Just a fact of life
> and quite different from HIV/AIDS, which is thought to be very
> dangerous and taboo. You are not even supposed to speak about that.
>
> In Europe one could think of the general attitude towards "common
> cold". Although science tells us that its origin is not in the
> chill of winter or the wet of autumn but in viruses that are
> disseminated between people, mothers keep asking their children to
> put on an extra pullover "so as not to catch cold". Most humans
> stick to their beliefs, even if scientific thinking is spreading
> quicker in some parts of the world.
>
> For Francine Ntoumi this gap between belief and science is very
> vivid. She says scientists need to learn a lot more from social
> scientists of how to word their messages, how to explain the
> background and how to overcome the fact that people tend to regard
> researchers as dreamers, who live in another world somehow. She
> herself says she can understand the way people think. Her parents
> let her be educated in France from 12 years of age, but she spent
> most summer vacations in the Congo, and finally decided to return
> and work there, although she had specialized in something as exotic
> as the neurobiology of the mink. But it was unrealistic to envisage
> research in a topic not relevant for the needs of her country
>
> - I wanted to contribute to the academic development in my country,
> so I had to change the subject of my research. Not that my old
> knowledge is waste, I could use a lot of my experience also in the
> field of malaria research. But the urgency of this matter makes it
> easier to attract students and funds. Nowadays I am involved in
> research activities in Gabon, Congo and Germany. In Brazzaville, I
> collaborate in developing research activities at CERVE with Dr.
> Mathieu Ndounga. In that perspective I train Congolese students in
> molecular epidemiology of malaria parasites and immunology.
> Equipment has become much handier and cheaper, so they can do a lot
> of lab work in Africa, and then come to Germany to acquire new
> cutting edge technologies and adapt them for use at home. These
> students represent the future generation of the lab at CERVE.
>
> Most African scientists she meets in Europe do not really
> understand her high involvement in research activities in Congo
> which was troubled by the civil war some years ago. Maybe the very
> fact that she left Africa so early in life increased her feeling
> that "home is home". Francine Ntoumi has a son of 15 who has lived
> with her in France, Gabon and Germany. She has always relied on the
> support of her parents, but she says it has not been easy to
> develop a carrier as a scientist and be a mother as she would like
> be at the same time. Much travelling and much late work. On the
> whole it is not easy to be an African Woman Scientist. Gender
> balance is still an issue and women are still regarded as neglected
> entity. But she has made her choice.
>
> She is the coordinator of one of the MIM/TDR networks, MIMPAC,
> MIM/TDR immunology and Pathogenesis Consortium which consist of
> researchers from eight research groups in Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina
> Faso, Sudan, Cameroon, Gabon and the republic of Congo. They share
> research protocols, develop common research projects and students
> exchange, within the network and with Northern partners like
> University of Stockholm, University of Tuebingen and University of
> Marseille.
>
> - MIMCOM is a revolution! says Francine Ntoumi. This is the means
> by which malaria research groups in many African countries have
> been granted access to the Internet and to the scientific
> community. Something that has changed their whole position compared
> to the old days. Now they can follow the international scientific
> development and keep updated even if they live in remote parts
> where the infrastructure is lacking. This may actually help them to
> carry on their work in Africa without feeling inferior vis-à-vis
> colleagues in other parts of the world. It has also benefited
> malaria research locally, as other institutions realize that it is
> an important and prestigious field, says Francine Ntoumi. The
> Medical research unit in Gabon and the CERVE in Brazzaville have
> benefited a lot from MIMCOM.
>
> *****************************************************************
>
>
> The grand old man of African malaria research
>
> Professor Wenceslaus Kilama, African Malaria Network Trust, Dar es
> Salaam, Tanzania
>
> He is something like the Grand Old Man of malaria research in
> Africa, Wen Kilama formerly at the University of Dar-es-Salaam. He
> was the lead founder of AMANET (African Malaria Network Trust)
> which succeeded African Malaria Vaccine Testing Network. He holds
> several prestigious international posts in the field, and is one of
> the founders of MIM. He says modestly that his interest in malaria
> has resulted in a few significant publications, but the list of
> institutions he founded and headed is important. Among them the
> National Institute for Medical Research in Tanzania.
>
> To-day, 65 years old and "chronologically retired" as he puts it,
> he is mainly concerned with the ethical side of research in Africa,
> especially malaria research. There are several hot issues, for
> instance the principle that research involving vulnerable Africans
> should only be performed if it benefits people in Africa. Drug
> trials aiming at finding good preventive methods for tourists
> should be carried through with tourists and not with people living
> in malaria endemic areas, who have enough problems as it is.
>
> -We have trained some 200 people to form Ethical Review Committees,
> which now exist at universities and research institutions in many
> African countries. But there is a need for further training so that
> the committees will not grow into merely a bureaucratic hindrance,
> but really carry through their task of making sure that scientific
> research respects the individual, does no harm, upholds
> confidentiality and so on. I have come to appreciate this as a very
> important and serious part of research, says professor Kilama.
>
> Wen Kilama was born in Bukoba, western Tanzania, where malaria
> affects almost everybody. In his childhood, children used to get
> scarification over their enlarged spleens in the belief that it was
> curative. At school when the children undressed for swimming or
> bathing this was a very common sign of how widespread malaria was.
> Nowadays medication is quite widespread and enlarged spleens are
> rare. There is however still a common lack of understanding of such
> characteristics as anaemia or psychiatric complications of malaria,
> says professor Kilama.
>
> He himself went to the US for further studies, and decided to major
> in biology, since that was closer to the needs of his country than
> the arts where he started out. His PhD thesis was on the genetics
> of mosquito susceptibility to malaria.
>
> Kilama has worked a great deal through non governmental
> organisations both to disseminate knowledge and to develop African
> researchers. But he feels malaria would need strong advocacy groups
> like those of people with HIV/AIDS. There is much too little of
> that, he says, even if he recognizes that efforts within malaria
> research have been stepped up recently.
>
> -Another worry of mine is that prevention to-day relies so heavily
> on one group of chemicals for insecticide treated bed nets. Once
> the mosquitoes manage to develop resistance against any of this set
> of chemicals, we will be in a very bad position. We really
> shouldn't put all our eggs in the same basket like this.
>
> *************************************************************
> AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
> providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
> a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
> Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
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