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Science In Action: Drug resistant malaria found in East Africa

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Mosquito net demonstration in a community outreach centre in Kenya

30/09/2021 GMT

Drug resistant malaria found in East Africa

BBC World Service - Science In Action, Drug resistant malaria found in East Africa

The spread of resistance to one of the most important anti-malarials

The spread of resistance to one of the most important anti-malarials. Also, making COVID antivirals, how air pollution affects pregnancy, and studying crop health from space.

Since their discovery in the 1970s, artemisinin-based drugs have become the mainstay of treatment for malaria caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. Researchers have identified artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites in Southeast Asia since the early 2000s, but now, there is evidence of resistance in Rwanda and Uganda. Dr Betty Balikagala of Juntendo University tells us how this resistance developed and what it means for managing malaria in Africa, which carries the greatest burden of malaria cases and deaths worldwide.

We hear from some of the scientists from COVID Moonshot, a non-profit, open-science consortium which has just received key funding to develop affordable antivirals to stop SARS-CoV-2 in its tracks. 

Also on the programme, Dr Rakesh Ghosh from the University of California, San Francisco tells us how air pollution is contributing to 6 million preterm births globally each year, and Dr Catherine Nakalembe of the University of Maryland and Africa Lead for NASA Harvest returns to the programme as NASA/USGS launches Landsat 9.

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Samara Linton

Image: Mosquito net demonstration in a community outreach centre in Kenya
Credit: Wendy Stone/Corbis via Getty Images

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