The Malaria Eradication Scientific Alliance (MESA) is an organization founded on the research carried out by the Malaria Eradication Research Agenda (malERA). "malERA" was a project carried out by the scientific community to identify the steps and future research that must be done in order to eradicate

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

. It was created after the Malaria Forum in 2007, hosted by the

Bill and 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 ...

, reestablished malaria eradication as a long-term goal. "malERA" first launched in 2008, and resulted in a research and development agenda which was published in a ''

PLoS Medicine ''PLOS Medicine'' (formerly styled ''PLoS Medicine'') is a peer-reviewed weekly medical journal covering the full spectrum of the medical sciences. It began operation on October 19, 2004, as the second journal of the Public Library of Science (PLO ...

'' magazine in 2011. MESA was formed in 2012 to continue the goals of malERA through research and development of methods to fight malaria.

Goals

As stated on the MESA website, MESA aims to "advance the science of malaria eradication by providing the community with a dedicated hub to track research, share relevant resources, and showcase examples of elimination programs". MESA does this through the pioneering of new ideas, managing knowledge and research, support of research projects through funding, and monitoring progress.

Governance

MESA is governed by a Steering Committee and is guided by the MESA Strategic Advisory Council. The Alliance is composed of international global health institutions, countries in which malaria is a significant problem, and the WHO Global Malaria Programme. Much of the organization is hosted by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, and the Alliance is funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. MESA is composed of 740 institutions in 94 countries and has 806 projects in progress.

Grantmaking

One of the main ways MESA contributes to research is through grants for projects which would help to fight malaria. These projects tend to fall within three categories: Health Systems' Readiness, Measurement of Transmission, and Operational research. The projects tend to last an average of two years and work with a maximum budget of $200,000 dollars. A list of grants is available on the MESA website.

History and projects

In 2012, MESA began a process to select science research projects dealing with the measurement of transmission of malaria and the preparation of health systems to fight malaria. Six projects were selected total to receive funding from MESA and another was supported to raise funds from other organizations. The projects conduct research in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Australasia. In 2014, four new projects were selected. These projects include: new tools for vector control and diagnosis, use of monitoring and response mapping technologies, and mobile applications for hard to reach populations. In June 2015, MESA lead a process called "malERA Refresh" to review and update malERA. This project examines 6 different subjects: "basic science and enabling technologies, insecticide and drug resistance, characterizing the reservoir and measuring transmission, tools for elimination, combination interventions and modeling, health systems and policy research." "malERA" Refresh is expected to be complete and available for open publication by the end of 2016. Other current projects include MESA's goal to eradicate the ''

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 ...

'' and '' Plasmodium vivax'' malaria strains in China by 2020.

Partners

* Institut de recherche pour le developpement *

Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northea ...

Clinical Research Programme *

Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology The Eijkman Molecular Biology Research Center, formerly Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology is a laboratory in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is most known for the discovery by Christiaan Eijkman that Beriberi was caused by a lack of thiamine in t ...

* Duke Global Health Institute * ISGlobal * Malaria Mission * Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center *

Burnet Institute The Burnet Institute is an Australian medical institute that combines medical research in the laboratory and the field, with public health action to address major health issues affecting disadvantaged communities in Australia, and international ...

* Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology * Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça *

Institut Pasteur The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines fo ...

* The Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) * University of California San Francisco *

Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute The Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute or Swiss TPH (formerly known as the Swiss Tropical Institute) is an international public health institute working in various disciplines with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries. It ...

* FIND *

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

* malERA * MalariaWorld * Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine * uber Research * Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa * Malaria Vaccine Initiative * Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) *

American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) is an Arlington, Virginia-based non-profit organization of scientists, clinicians, students and program professionals whose longstanding mission is to promote global health through the ...

University of Health and Allied Sciences The University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) a public university located at Ho in the Volta Region of Ghana. UHAS is one of the youngest public universities in Ghana. Its operation started in September 2012, when the first batch of 154 s ...

* Project Diameter * Fundacao de Medicine Tropical Doutor Heitor Vieira Dourado * Akros Global Health *

Malaria Consortium Malaria Consortium is an international non-profit organization specializing in the comprehensive control of malaria and other communicable diseases – particularly those affecting children under five. Established in 2003, Malaria Consortium wor ...

Mahidol University Mahidol University (Mahidol), an autonomous research institution in Thailand, had its origin in the establishment of Siriraj Hospital in 1888. Mahidol had an acceptance rate for Medicine of 0.4% as of the 2016 academic year. Becoming the Univers ...

President's Malaria Initiative The President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) is a U.S. Government initiative to control and eliminate malaria, one of the leading global causes of premature death and disability. The initiative was originally launched by U.S. president George W. Bush ...

Malaria Atlas Project The Malaria Atlas Project, abbreviated as MAP, is a non-profit academic group led by Professor Peter Gething, Kerry M Stokes Chair in Child Health, at the Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Western Australia. The group is funded by the Bill and Mel ...

* London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Alaria Centre *

Clinton Health Access Initiative The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...

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 ...

* Asia pacific malaria elimination network * Harvard School of Public Health * Department of Defense Armed Forces Pest Management Board

References

{{Eradication of infectious disease Malaria organizations