Severe Malaria Africa – A consortium for Research and Trials (SMAART)

Year of award: 2017

Grantholders

  • Prof Kathryn Maitland

    Imperial College London

  • Prof Nicholas Day

    University of Oxford

  • Prof Ann Sarah Walker

    University College London

  • Prof Peter Olupot-Olupot

    Busitema University Faculty of Health Sciences

  • Dr Patricia Njuguna

    KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme

  • Prof Marie Onyamboko

    University of Kinshasa

  • Prof David Lalloo

    Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

  • Prof Victor Mwapasa

    University of Malawi

  • Prof Robert Snow

    University of Oxford

  • Prof Daniel Ansong

    Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

  • Prof Pedro Aide

    Manhica Health Research Centre

  • Prof Arjen Dondorp

    Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit

  • Prof Diana Gibb

    University College London

Project summary

Despite the scaling up of control measures, malaria, and life-threatening (severe) malaria, remain a common cause of hospital admission in children in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa. About 90% of the world’s malaria infections and deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and it is almost entirely children who die from it. Few of these children will be cared for in an intensive care ward, so management relies upon simple treatments to tackle complications, alongside injectable antimalarial drugs. Despite this, at least one in 10 children with severe malaria dies.

We have brought together a consortium of world leaders in severe malaria and experts in clinical trials to address this challenge and improve outcomes. We have identified gaps in current practice and understanding of the disease in Africa and drugs or interventions that we aim to investigate over the next four years using observational studies and clinical trials.

Our findings will improve our understanding of malaria and help to improve management of the disease for children in sub-Saharan Africa.