Malaria is highly endemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Malaria control efforts in the DRC have ramped up in recent years, but resources and local knowledge are still limited. The overall research goal of this project is to provide the evidence base to assist in the development of sustainable control and elimination strategies for the DRC through the integrated understanding of the local malaria epidemiology, vector biology and parasite genetics. Through a longitudinal cohort study of 1600 individuals in 7 sites with differing transmission intensities, we will: 1) identify risk factors for patent, subpatent and clinical malaria in a longitudinal study; 2) Assess changes in entomological parameters longitudinally including species, behavior and insecticide-resistance; 3) Measure genetic changes in the parasite longitudinally especially in drug-resistance SNPs and in deletions of the pfhrp2 gene; and 4) create multilevel statistical models to determine the relationships between these cofactors and events. The results of this study will have a direct impact on malaria control efforts in the DRC and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
10% of the world?s malaria is believed to be in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Here we propose a comprehensive longitudinal study of human and mosquito factors that affect malaria transmission.
