Page 65 - University of Pretoria Research Review 2017
P. 65

         Foreword
Introductory Messages
DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE
PEOPLE AND CONTEXTS
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Context
PLANET AND SUSTAINABILITY
Awards
Lead Researchers
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  UP ISMC postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows on a field excursion in malaria-endemic Tshikondeni in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province.
Integrating malaria research and management strategies
The control and eventual elimination of malaria is still a major public health challenge in Africa, and requires novel, safer and sustainable methods and strategies.
The University of Pretoria Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control (UP ISMC) is a research entity with several research platforms that link research partners and the translation of high-impact research – fundamental and applied – to innovations, education and health promotion. Research practice is taken from laboratory to community and, by so doing, contributes towards a malaria-free Africa. Since its inception in 2011, the UP ISMC has gone from strength to strength, attaining new milestones, identifying and collaborating with high-profile partners and expanding its international footprint.
Chair in Sustainable Malaria Control was approved for another five-year cycle and upgraded to a Tier 1 level. The Chair harnesses expertise in malaria parasite biology to enable sustained malaria control in Africa. Professor Lyn-Marie Birkholtz has been the incumbent of the
Chair since its inception in 2013, and also leads the Parasite Control Cluster within the UP ISMC. In 2017, a DST-NRF Community of Practice in malaria elimination was established at UP, and will incorporate
the expertise of five DST-NRF SARChI holders from four research universities in South Africa. The foci include the discovery of novel drug leads, used with optimised delivery systems against both the malaria parasite and mosquito vectors, and modelled within a malaria- elimination setting.
The DST-NRF South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI)

















































































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