Malaria elimination
Malaria claims more than half a million lives every year, most of them children under the age of five. Despite decades of progress, the disease remains a major public health challenge, particularly across sub-Saharan Africa, where the vast majority of cases and deaths occur.
Advances in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and surveillance are accelerating progress towards malaria elimination. Yet no single intervention is sufficient. Sustained progress depends on combining approaches tailored to different contexts, while responding to challenges including drug resistance, diagnostic limitations and climate-driven changes in transmission patterns.
Oxford researchers and partners are contributing to malaria elimination through decades of collaborative work spanning transmission, entomology, vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and malaria control strategies. This includes breakthroughs in prevention, including the WHO-recommended RTS,S and R21/Matrix-M vaccines and next-generation vaccine technologies designed to expand access in low-resource settings.
Across the malaria continuum, researchers are also advancing work on antimalarial resistance, new therapeutics, innovative housing designs that reduce mosquito exposure, and malaria mapping and modelling approaches that support more targeted control strategies. Long-term population studies in Kilifi, Kenya, have helped shape understanding of malaria transmission and control.
Oxford Global Health brings together researchers from across the University to explore how Oxford’s expertise and partnerships can support malaria-endemic countries in their journey towards elimination. By connecting expertise across disciplines, convening researchers and partners, and strengthening collaboration with national and regional actors, Oxford Global Health supports more coordinated and locally led approaches to malaria elimination.
Explore related work
- R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine discovery: paving the way for a malaria-free future
- 'Single shot' malaria vaccine delivery system could transform global immunisation
- From Kilifi to the World: Rethinking Malaria Control Through Three Decades of Research
- Oxford Global Health welcomes Ghana's High Commissioner for engagement on malaria and strengthening collaboration