First Post

Hi Everyone.

Just an initial disclaimer, I'm not particularly tech saavy, so please bear with me as I work out the kinks!

I was initially drawn to the topic of malaria by the statistics for missed diagnoses (59%) and subclinical treatment (64%) that were cited in one of the first week's readings: "Global infections: recognition, management, and prevention." Given our current setting, I thought it would be appropriate to focus on malaria and student health, both in terms of students planning to study abroad, and international students returning home to visit family and friends. This is likely to change as the quarter progresses, but at least these were my first musings!

Anyways, I thought for the first article, something general might be appropriate. The Up to Date article entitled "Epidemiology, pathogenesis, and clinical features of malaria," is a good introduction. In the section on Host Genetics, I was interested to read that while some traits may be protective against malaria, this tricky parasite is able to develop new techniques for invading previously "immune" red blood cells.

I've also included a link to the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines website. http://www.msfaccess.org/main/other-diseases/msf-and-malaria/. It's a great resource for information regarding the fight to make artemisinin-based combination therapies for malaria affordable and accessible to those who need them the most. This year, efforts have been made to reduce the cost of antimalarials through the establishment of the Affordable Medicines Facility–malaria (AMF-m). However, the fund does not address other barriers to care in resource-poor settings such as user fees and geographically inaccessible health posts. Nor does the fund provide for Rapid Diagnostic Tests, or insist on the use of Fixed Dose Combinations that have been shown to improve patient adherence. If anyone's curious about these issues, there's an article entitled, “Focusing on Quality Patient Care in the New Global Subsidy for Malaria Medicines” at http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000106.

Have a great weekend, everyone, and see you on Tuesday!