Lancaster University to partake in global fight against malaria

The university is a part of Malaria Modellers in Africa consortium

| UPDATED

Lancaster University will be working with Malaria Modellers in Africa consortium (MaModAfrica) in a “global funding combat against malaria”, reports the Lancaster Guardian.

The university’s initiative will be led by Dr. Luigi Sedda, of the Ecology and Epidemiology Group at Lancaster Medical School.

Dr. Sedda will be training 30 Master’s and eight PhD students “in malaria modelling for public health interventions”, starting autumn 2023.

The aim is to increase “the number of academically trained malaria modelers in sub-Saharan Africa”, hoping to “bridge the gap between academic modelling and operational need”.

Lancaster University will be working alongside 18 other institutions part of MaModAfrica, which was “awarded a multi-million pound contract by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation”. The institutions are spread across Africa, Europe, and Australia, and are all “dedicated to building malaria modelling capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Dr. Luigi Sedda told the Lancaster Guardian: “This is an exciting news for us that will contribute to the reputation of Lancaster Medical School as a world centre of excellence for training and research in spatial epidemiology and tropical diseases.

“This latest award is instrumental in increasing the impact of current interventions against malaria and other infectious diseases in Africa which still kill more than one million people each year.”

Featured image credit: Lancaster University Medical School

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