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Credit: Andrea Stewart
Did you know? In the UK, members of parliament (MPs) from different political parties form All-Party Parliamentary Groups to discuss themes of particular importance to the UK government and its populace.
The APPG on malaria and NTDs gathered March 19 in Westminster; Jeremy Lefroy MP welcomed Rob van der Pluijm on behalf of MORU, the Tracking Resistance to Artemesinin Collaboration II and the Developing Triple Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (DeTACT) Project.
Rob presented encouraging findings from TRAC II and launch plans for DeTACT in Africa and Asia. The UK Department for International Development’s (DfID) Senior Global Health Advisor attended alongside colleagues from the Wellcome Trust, LSHTM, Imperial College and other malaria advocacy groups.
Pertinent questions included whether DeTACT was an innovative attempt at ‘global health preparedness’ for eventual drug resistance in Africa; whether the WHO and national health programmes in endemic countries were likely to recommend triple dose treatments soon enough to prevent or slow the impact of drug resistance; and how well Mefloquine was tolerated when part of the Triple ACT combination.
Read a summary of the Westminster event.
Photo: APPG on Malaria & NTDs Chair Jeremy Lefroy MP (right) and Catherine West MP (second right), together with Rob van der Pluijm (centre) and other research presenters from LSHTM and Nottingham University. Text and photo credit: Andrea Stewart.