''malariacontrol.net'' was a

volunteer computing Volunteer computing is a type of distributed computing in which people donate their computers' unused resources to a research-oriented project, and sometimes in exchange for credit points. The fundamental idea behind it is that a modern desktop co ...

project to simulate the transmission dynamics and health effects of malaria. It was part of the

Africa@home Africa@home is a website that allow users to use their home computers to contribute for humanitarian causes at Africa. This project first went public on 13 July 2006. It partners with Swiss Tropical Institute, the University of Geneva, CERN, and I ...

project.

History

The malariacontrol.net domain name was first registered on 19 May 2005 under Swiss Tropical Institute. This project was under

where the latter was conceived and developed by European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). ''malariacontrol.net'' was the first to use volunteer computing to model diseases. The model simulates malaria infection in 50,000 to 100,000 people. Each work unit lasted for an hour in average personal computers and the results were returned to

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

for evaluation by researchers. ''malariacontrol.net'' ran all the simulations by using

stochastic simulation A stochastic simulation is a simulation of a system that has variables that can change stochastically (randomly) with individual probabilities.DLOUHÝ, M.; FÁBRY, J.; KUNCOVÁ, M.. Simulace pro ekonomy. Praha : VŠE, 2005. Realizations of these ...

model. Since 4 November 2010, using the financial support from

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

, Malariacontrol.net developed an

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

software named "Open Malaria" which can be used to simulate outcomes in various types of malaria transmission settings. On 21 June 2016, ''malariacontrol.net'' announced that the project has been terminated due to financial constraints in upgrading their servers for further volunteer computing operations.

Impact

Over 10 years, ''malariacontrol.net'' has produced 30 peer-reviewed articles. In 2008, among the studies performed were the effectiveness of different types of

Malaria vaccine A malaria vaccine is a vaccine that is used to prevent malaria. The only approved use of a vaccine outside the EU, as of 2022, is RTS,S, known by the brand name ''Mosquirix''. In October 2021, the WHO for the first time recommended the large-sc ...

s in high and low malaria transmission settings, effectiveness of

Sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine Sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, sold under the brand name Fansidar, is a combination medication used to treat malaria. It contains sulfadoxine (a sulfonamide) and pyrimethamine (an antiprotozoal). For the treatment of malaria it is typically used alo ...

in preventive treatment of malaria in infants, and using individual-based stochastic simulations in ''

Plasmodium falciparum ''Plasmodium falciparum'' is a Unicellular organism, unicellular protozoan parasite of humans, and the deadliest species of ''Plasmodium'' that causes malaria in humans. The parasite is transmitted through the bite of a female ''Anopheles'' mosqu ...

'' control. In 2012, ''malariacontrol.net'' has studied the effectiveness of using

RTS,S RTS,S/AS01 (trade name Mosquirix) is a recombinant protein-based malaria vaccine. In October 2021, the vaccine was endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for "broad use" in children, making it the first malaria vaccine candidate, and fi ...

malaria vaccine in

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

's Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in different malarial transmission settings and reported that such programme only has modest benefits over 14 years period. The study suggested that the RTS,S vaccine should be used in targeted mass vaccination in low malarial transmission settings in order to get the most benefits out of it. In 2013, ''malariacontrol.net'' had examined the effectiveness of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) and other surveillance tools in detecting malaria infections among high and low ''Plasmodium falciparum'' transmissions. The project also recommended that screening the whole human population for malaria before treating them would be more cost effective when compared to indiscriminate treatment of the whole population with antimalarial drugs. Another study also revealed that both

Pyrethroid A pyrethroid is an organic compound similar to the natural pyrethrins, which are produced by the flowers of pyrethrums (''Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium'' and ''Chrysanthemum coccineum, C. coccineum''). Pyrethroids are used as commercial and hou ...

-only mosquito nets and

Piperonyl butoxide Piperonyl butoxide (PBO) is a pale yellow to light brown liquidNational Toxicology Program, Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NTP). 1992. National Toxicology Program Chemical Repository Database. Research Tr ...

mosquito nets are cost effective in preventing malarial infections in both Pyrethroid-susceptible and Pyrethroid-resistant mosquitoes.

Reception

As of 2010, ''malariacontrol.net'' had about 10,000 active users with 37,002 registered members. Similar to the general

BOINC The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC, pronounced – rhymes with "oink") is an open-source middleware system for volunteer computing (a type of distributed computing). Developed originally to support SETI@home, it beca ...

users, ''malariacontrol.net'' mainly had a volunteer base of males ranged from 20 to 50 years old, mostly staying in European countries and North America. Most of them learned about this project through BOINC website and their main motivation was the satisfaction of doing something good for the betterment of humankind.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malaria Control Project Science in society Free science software Malaria Volunteer computing projects

History

Impact

Reception

See also

References