Five Minutes | Exclusive Malaria Interviews
By Fight Malaria
A podcast by Fight Malaria.
Five Minutes | Exclusive Malaria InterviewsApr 09, 2019
Tracking Bednet Use in Uganda with a Remote Monitor
Long-lasting insecticidal bednets, or LLINs for short, are an integral part of the global effort to fight malaria, with the WHO recommending that everyone, all 3.4 billion people, at risk of malaria should have access to one.
But how effective are they? To try and understand how bednets are being used in the field, a team of researchers led by Paul Krezanoski of the University of California have developed the so-called SmartNet, a remote bednet monitor.
I speak to Paul about the unreliable mechanisms of monitoring bednet use and the technology behind the SmartNet.
The Ugandan Inventor Behind Bloodless Malaria Diagnosis
When testing for malaria, there are two primary options: lab-based diagnosis and RTDs, Rapid Diagnostic Tests. There are pros and cons with each.
Lab-based diagnosis, whilst accurate, require expert training and a well-equipped lab, which may not be available in low-resource settings. RTDs, whilst portable and inexpensive, are not always accurate, reporting false positives and false negatives.
But both of these methods require a blood sample from the patient. This in itself poses many risks; bruising, swelling and even infection.
One of the new methods of malaria diagnosis in development does not require a blood sample - the so-called Matiscope by Brian Gitta, a Ugandan inventor.
Transgenic Malaria Control Kills 99% of Mosquitoes in African Trial
A new study has found that fungus, genetically enhanced to produce spider toxin, can kill a large-number of malaria-carrying mosquitos.
I speak with Brian Lovett, who is one of the authors of the paper.
Halving Malaria Across the Commonwealth by 2023
In 2018, leaders of the Commonwealth countries pledged to reduce malaria cases by half by 2023.
One year on, what has been done to try and achieve that aim?Malaria No More held a panel in London to try and answer that very question.
Where Are We In The Fight Against Malaria?
To take a look at where we are in the fight against malaria, I’m joined by Michal Fishman of Malaria No More.
She’s co-chairs the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, which brings together organisations to reduce malaria cases.
The World's First Voice Petition To End Malaria
Malaria No More has just launched a petition, with David Beckham as its figurehead. The petition aims to get the attention of world leaders ahead of critical funding decisions for The Global Fund.
But this petition is not asking for signatures or for your email address, it wants your voice, and for you to recording yourself saying ‘Malaria Must Die’.
To learn more, I’m joined by Dr Elvis Eze, who is part of the campaign.
Tracking Insecticide Resistance Across the African Continent
Hello, I’m Thomas Locke and this is Five Minutes, the podcast that brings you closer to the malaria experts.
The Mobile Malaria team, led by Dr George Busby from the University of Oxford, are about to set off on a six-thousand-kilometre journey across Africa.
They’ll be making the journey in a Land Rover, taking portable DNA sequencing technology on the road.
Sequencing DNA is no mean feat, it requires lots of specialist equipment, stuff you’d normally find in a lab. But this project won’t be done in a high-tech laboratory, it’ll be done from the boot of a car.
I recently spoke with Dr Busby and began by asking how they’re able to take this highly technical operation on the road.
Enhancing Mosquito Genome Assembly with a Low-Input DNA Protocol
Hello, I’m Thomas Locke and this is Five Minutes, the podcast that brings you closer to the malaria experts.
All of our genetic material is made from DNA. It’s a chemical found in the nucleus of our cells, in long structures called chromosomes. The entire set of our genetic material forms our genome; each one of our is unique.
Having reference genomes, a list of the genes always occur in a particular species is really important. It allows scientists to identify genes that cause disease, understand genetic inheritance and track migration patterns. Or in the case of malaria, understand insecticide resistance.
Creating reference genomes for mosquitos is a challenge. But now, in a partnership between the Sanger Institute and PacBio, it can be done with just 100 nanograms of DNA.
I speak with Sarah Kingan, a scientist who helped develop the new protocol.
The Canadian Student Using a Smartphone Camera to Diagnose Malaria
Hello, I’m Thomas Locke and this is Five Minutes, the podcast that brings you closer to the people fighting malaria.
The world’s access to mobile phones is increasing. Quartz Africa predicts that one billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa will have one by 2023. Fatou Secka, a student at Dalhousie University in Canada, is using this to revolutionise malaria diagnosis.
Using a 3D-printed lens clip that attaches the back of a smartphone camera, she hopes to detect the presence of malaria parasites in a blood sample - a useful tool in rural communities, where access to specialist equipment is limited.
Aligning Malaria Communications to Engender Change
Hello, I’m Thomas Locke and this is Five Minutes, the podcast that brings you closer to the people fighting malaria.
There are a number of stakeholders in the fight against malaria. Hundreds of organisations, nonprofits and government schemes are united by a common objective: to eradicate malaria. But how do you align this global community to ensure that everyone’s singing off of the same song sheet?
Well, the Strategic Communications Partner Committee, the SCPC, tries to do just that. Part of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, the SCPC works alongside stakeholders to develop and implement global malaria communications.
Right now, between the 13th and the 14th of February, key members of the committee are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland for their annual face-to-face meeting. Joining me now is Xenya Scanlon, the Committee's Manager.
The Accuracy of Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Malaria
Hello, I’m Thomas Locke and this is Five Minutes, the podcast that brings you closer to the people fighting malaria.
Today I’m joined by Dr Mark Amos to discuss the accuracy of malaria testing.
How accurate are Rapid Diagnostic Tests, or RTDs, tools that are becoming increasing popular? And how do they compare to traditional lab testing?
This is Five Minutes with Dr Mark Amos.
An Interview with Penny Mordaunt, the Secretary of State for International Development
Hello, I’m Thomas Locke and this is Five Minutes, the podcast that brings you closer to the people fighting malaria.
In the final episode of 2018, I’m pleased to share this interview with Penny Mordaunt.
She’s the Secretary of State for International Development. Its aim is to build a safer and more prosperous world by tackling the global challenges of our time, including malaria.
Using Gene Drives to Target Malaria Carrying Mosquitos
Hello, I’m Thomas Locke and this is Five Minutes, the podcast that brings you closer to the people fighting malaria.
Target Malaria is a consortium of researchers using 'gene drives' to help eliminate malaria.
In this podcast, I speak with Dr Alekos Simoni, one of their researchers based at Imperial College London.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Malaria & NTDs
Today, I’m joined by Jeremy Lefroy MP, the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Malaria and NTDs.
Political attitudes are vital to the success of malaria elimination efforts and his responsibility is to inform other Parliamentarians about the disease. Today’s a good time to speak because the group’s annual report was released earlier this week.
The Programme Analyst Coordinating 'Bucket Trials' in India
Her team is testing the efficacy of a new biodegradable larvicide that can kill mosquitos, releasing carbon dioxide and water into the atmosphere.
This is Five Minutes with Lukyn Gedge.
The Scientist Developing a New Biodegradable Larvicide
Today, I’m joined by Mary Skelly, the CEO of Microbide, a chemical company based in Ireland. Her team is developing a biodegradable insecticide for the control of mosquitoes. It’s currently undergoing so-called 'bucket trials' in India.
This is Five Minutes with Mary Skelly.
The Woman Fighting Malaria with Handmade Soap
This is Five Minutes with Joan Nalubega.
The Journalist Responsible for the Removal of Kenya's Fake Malaria Drugs
She’s been involved in an investigation into substandard antimalarial drugs. Her journalism has resulted in the Kenyan Health Ministry to recall Duo-Cotecxin, a commonly used antimalarial.
Five Minutes with Linda Lear | Rachel Carson, Silent Spring and DDT
To discuss this further, I’m joined by historian Linda Lear. She wrote “Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature”, a biography about Carson and her work.
Five Minutes with Annemarie Quinn and Code Sangala | Music Against Malaria
They’re currently touring Malawi to raise money for the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre.
This is Five Minutes.
Five Minutes with Professor Marcia Castro | Harvard’s Online Malaria Course
The course is available on the edX platform, is free of charge and lasts around 40 hours.
Five Minutes with Michelle Stanton | Using Drones to Fight Malaria
She’s working on trying to reduce malaria deaths by better understanding where mosquito breeding spots are. To do this, she’s using the power of drones to capture aerial imagery in Malawi’s drone corridor – a patch of land devoted to humanitarian drone testing created by UNICEF.
Five Minutes with Dr Deborah O’Neil | The Post-Antibiotic Era
She recently delivered a talk on the pharmaceutical industry as it is today, and offered an insight into what it could become, with a focus on so-called ‘personalised medicines’.
She also addressed the worrying issue of antimicrobial resistance and discussed new cancer therapies being approved by the NHS.
This is Five Minutes with Dr Deborah O'Neil.
Five Minutes with Professor Katherine Andrews | Getting Kids into STEM
Trying to change that is Professor Katherine Andrews, a parasitologist and the Project Manager of ‘That’s RAD! Science’. The aim of which is to bring STEM careers alive for children through a series of fun and educational picture books.
Katherine is the Author of one of the books in the series titled ‘My Mum is a Parasite Scientist, That’s Rad’.
This is Five Minutes with Katherine Andrews.
Five Minutes with Rob Mather | CEO, Against Malaria Foundation
AMF fund anti-malaria nets, specifically long-lasting insecticidal nets, LLINs.
Website: www.againstmalaria.com/
This is Five Minutes with Rob Mather.
Five Minutes with Florence Bearman & Kim Van Der Wiejde | Bicycle Ambulances
Five Minutes with Sally Edgar | Animation for Public Health
I'm keen to know what makes a public health animation effective and, as the NHS introduces an online quiz to determine heart age, will such quizzes have a greater role in public health?
This is Five Minutes with Sally Edgar.
Five Minutes with Margaret Reilly McDonnell | Nothing But Nets
Margaret Reilly McDonnell, the Executive Director of Nothing But Nets discusses the importance of mosquito nets, the growing issue of insecticide resistance and cuts to foreign aid.
This is Five Minutes with Margaret Reilly McDonnell.
Five Minutes with Dr Mike Coleman & Kirsten Duda | Insecticide Resistance Video Game
Joining me today are Dr Mike Coleman and Kirsten Duda of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. They work for ETCH which stands for Engaging Tools for Communication in Health.
They’ve helped to create an app called Resistance 101. It’s an arcade-style game that makes understanding the concepts of insecticide resistance much more accessible and engaging.
It’s available to download on iTunes and the Google Play store. the links are available on our website.
This is Five Minutes with Dr Mike Coleman and Kirsten Duda.
Five Minutes with Professor Steve Lindsay | Mosquito Nets
Today’s episode is brought to you live from Durham University where I met with Professorr Steve Lindsay to discuss his work in developing a new type of bed net.
His research has hit the headlines, with coverage from The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Express and other news sites.
His mosquito net, trialled in Burkina Faso, has been dubbed as ‘revolutionary’ with the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives.
From Durham University in the North of England, this is Five Minutes.
Five Minutes with Professor Archie Clements | Curtin University
Today I’m delighted to be joined by Professor Archie Clements who is Pro Vice-Chancellor of Health Sciences at Curtin University in Australia.
He’s also an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow, having received over $28 million in research funding, and authoring more than 190 peer-reviewed publications.
I’m keen to know what he thinks about the Malaria World Congress that took place in Melbourne earlier this year, and his thoughts on the FDA’s approval of Tafenoquine.
If you’d like to stay up to date with the latest malaria interviews, you can subscribe on iTunes and Spotify. Head to fightmalaria.uk/FiveMinutes for more details.
This is Five Minutes with Professor Archie Clements.
Five Minutes with Elena & Joanne | Feminism and Malaria
Since the New York Times published a story detailing allegations of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein in October of last year, there’s been a surge in feminism and the fight for equality.
There have been huge societal shifts, with the Me Too movement demanding female empowerment, not only in Hollywood on the big screen, but across a variety of careers. Such is true with STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.
And joining me today are two female malaria researchers Elena Gomez in Spain and Joanne Powell in Scotland. They’ve created a website called women in malaria, it acts as a communications platform for women working in malaria research.
Live from Spain and Scotland, this is Five Minutes.
Five Minutes with Dr Michelle Wykes | The Immune System's Response to Malaria
Today I’m really excited to be joined by Dr Michelle Wykes all the way from Brisbane, Australia.
She runs the Molecular Immunology unit at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and has been focusing on trying to improve the immune system’s response to a malaria infection.
We discuss her recent work in malaria research which has been hailed as a breakthrough.
Five Minutes with Thomas Stewart | The Mentor Initiative
He tells us about his work in malaria control and why it's now more important than ever to eliminate malaria.
This is Five Minutes with Thomas Stewart.
Five Minutes with Professor Jake Baum | Malaria Researcher
His team is working on trying to find a set of compounds that stop mosquitoes from contracting malaria when they bite an infected person.
A set of compounds have been identified, and I want to know more about what this will mean for the future of malaria.
More Interviews: fightmalaria.uk/FiveMinutes
Five Minutes with PMI VectorLink Project | Malaria Control
The project is equipping countries to plan and implement sustainable Indoor Residual Spraying programs and other life-saving malaria control interventions.
PMI stands for the President’s Malaria Initiative and was established in 2005. The organisation works alongside USAID and other aid organisations to try and reduce malaria transmission.
This is Five Minutes with the PMI VectorLink Project.
Five Minutes with Cheyenne Cook | Vector LearningXChange
The site has been designed for vector control stakeholders from around the world to learn from each other about the most effective ways to prevent malaria. Think of it as the Facebook of malaria control programmes.
You can view all of the details about the Vector LearningXChange platform on our website, www.fightmalaria.co.uk
This is Five Minutes with Cheyenne Cook.