Malaria remains a major public health challenge in Africa, causing high mortality each year and relying heavily on effective treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). However, the recent emergence of artemisinin resistance (AR) in East Africa poses a serious threat to malaria control, with the potential for treatment failure and no immediate alternatives available. Although currently localized, this resistance could spread across the continent. Malaria parasites are professional “hitch-hikers”, as they move by means of infected human hosts or Anopheles mosquitoes. The infected humans and mosquitoes follow multiple pathways and may move to new territories through local mosquito movement, human travel between communities, long-distance travel, and even transport via vehicles such as night buses and boats. This project focuses on understanding how these different transmission routes contribute to the spread of AR across four bordering countries in the Great Lakes Region of East Africa, the current epicenter of resistance. By integrating fine-scale molecular, entomological, and behavioural data from communities, travel hubs, and transport systems with existing datasets, the project aims to develop mathematical models that can predict and help control the spread of artemisinin resistance.

Our collaborators in this project