Professor finds malaria prevention requires targeted interventions rather than universal solutions

A GW professor argues there is no single universal solution to stop the global spread of malaria but instead effective elimination strategies require a combination of context and region specific approaches, in a paper published this month.

Nirbhay Kumar, a professor in the Department of Global Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, published the paper on Sept. 17 in the journal Trends in Parasitology, arguing that the complexity of malaria transmission and growing resistance to existing tools make a one-size-fits-all approach to prevention impractical. The paper calls on countries to use combinations of existing and newer tools, including next-generation insecticides, antimalarial drugs and mRNA-based vaccines, to cater efforts to local conditions rather than relying on a single intervention in order to shape future malaria prevention efforts.