Fighting malaria from the front

Malaria research, 1980-2004, and the burden of disease

Malaria is estimated to cause about 1.6% of the 57 million deaths occurring annually and 2.3% of the disease burden. However, it accounts for only about 0.4% of world biomedical research, and this percentage is barely changing. Most of the research takes place in Europe and North America, which are little affected directly by the disease, 90% of whose burden occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. Research includes both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical approaches; the fastest growing ones involve the artemisinins and genetics. Leading countries in malaria research (including India, Thailand, Kenya and Nigeria) differ greatly in the subjects that they favour.