CDU EVENTS
The history of Malaria and its global elimination:
| Presenter | Professor Ric Price | |
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| Contact person | T: 8946 6082 E: CDUEvents@cdu.edu.au | |
| Location | University Theatre - Orange Building 3, Casuarina campus | |
| Open to | Public | |
The history of Malaria and its global elimination: herbs, wars, Dracula, syphilis, hippopotamuses and icebergs
Malaria is a deadly disease caused by the bite of an infected mosquito. For millennia it has defined human evolution, impacting societies, wars, empires, and our genetic makeup. In the 1800s almost the entire world was endemic for malaria, the disease being one of the greatest causes of infant mortality.
The 20th Century was a turning point, with scientific discoveries leading to new drugs and better ways of controlling the disease. However, the parasite is resilient and fighting back, evolving to become resistant to our best drugs and evade detection.
Malaria remains endemic to 87 countries with almost 2.8 billion people at risk of infection, mostly in low-income countries and poorly resourced communities. Each year it makes >200 million patients sick and causes >400,000 deaths.
In 2007 this unacceptable burden triggered Bill and Melinda Gates to call for the elimination of the disease globally by 2050.
In this talk, Professor Ric Price will present some of the key discoveries of the last 100 years, and the modern efforts and hurdles to the control and ultimate elimination of this deadly disease.
Professor Ric Price
Ric Price is Professor of Global Health at the Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Australia and Professor of Tropical Medicine at the Centre of Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, UK.
His translational research program focuses on improving the diagnosis and management of multidrug-resistant P. falciparum and P. vivax infections. He is recognised internationally as an authority on the burden of malaria and public health strategies for its elimination.
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