Malaria is a life-threatening disease that has frightening statistics worldwide. World Health Organization (WHO) reports show more than 200 million malaria cases globally each year, and about 30 million cases and 42,000 lives lost in India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Unfortunately many of the infected victims are poor, who become too sick to work and care for their families. The economic impact on the underdeveloped countries is also significant, as the cost of preventing and treating the disease can be high.
Nevertheless, malaria is both preventable and treatable. Much research has been carried on the control and treatment of malaria, but the progress is continually being threatened by new challenges such as emergence of drug resistance, new malaria species affecting man, movement of people within and across borders and global warming effects on the mosquito vector population.
Sabah in Malaysia has the highest number of cases of Plasmodium Knowlesi in SE Asia, the so-called 5th malaria species that infects man. It is thus a good place to hold this conference, so participants can share their experiences and contribute new ideas to help control this malaria species in this region.
OBJECTIVES
The International Malaria Symposium 2013 aims :
- To bring eminent malaria scientists from diverse background to this region so that they can share their experiences. Speakers will highlight the latest advances in malaria epidemiology, vector biology and ecology, parasitology, immunology, genomics, novel vaccine strategies and mathematical modelling.
- To provide a forum for discussion of the latest findings on malaria research. The ensuing discussions will consider the relevance of these advances to malaria control, treatment, and elimination.
- To foster cooperation among malariologists and hopefully this will lead to future collaborative research,
- To strengthen the regional political commitment and responses to malaria in order to reduce the number of deaths from malaria in our region.
Download programme pamphlet for further details:
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Visit our official website for more info: www.ums.edu.my/conferences/IMS2013