Electronic Precinct - February 1999

Malaria Research

The Wellcome Trust Research Laboratories in Blantyre, Malawi.

Research into malaria, which kills one million children in Africa every year, will be enhanced by new facilities in Malawi funded by the Wellcome Trust . Situated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre, the largest city in the country, the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratories were officially opened on 22 January by the Malawian Health Minister, Hon Harry I Thompson.

The new building will provide space for Trust-funded researchers working on malaria and other significant diseases affecting Malawi and many other countries in Africa. This is a collaboration between the University of Liverpool, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the College of Medicine at the University of Malawi. The partnership of over 10 years has helped to strengthen the research capacity in Malawi, improve diagnosis and treatment of malaria in the country and has produced important contributions to the World Health Organisation's recommendations for the treatment of the dise ase.

Led by Professor Malcolm Molyneux from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Dr Peter Winstanley of the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, research teams are currently investigating severe malaria in children, malaria in pregnant women and newborn babies; and malaria in a semi-im mune adult population. Work is also in progress on meningitis and HIV positive Malawian adults; anaemia in pregnant women; and a common form of viral diarrhoea in children, which causes a significant amount of sickness and death.

Speaking in advance of the building opening Dr Richard Lane, Programme Director for Tropical Initiatives at the Wellcome Trust said: 'We have been supporting work on Malawi through the University of Liverpool for many years and have been very pleased with the partnerships that have been forged with the College of Medicine in Blantyre. Their research results have not only added to the growth of published research from developing countries but also to the management of life threatening diseases.'

The new building, constructed under the direction of the University of Liverpool, has been erected in the grounds of the Queen Elizabeth Central Teaching Hospital to enable combined clinical and laboratory research to continue.