Mali
Mali is a landlocked west African nation with a highly stratified climate: hot and arid in the north and wet and humid in the south. Malaria is one of the country’s principal causes of death and suffering and is responsible for more than 30 percent of all outpatient hospital visits, according to the World Health Organization. Food- and water-borne diseases, including Hepatitis A, typhoid fever, and schistosomiasis, are also prevalent, particularly near the Niger River.
NIAID-Funded Activities
NIAID has on-site staff in the capital city of Bamako, working in close association with the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Odonto-Stomatology (FMPOS) at the University of Bamako. NIAID scientists have been active in Mali since the late 1980s; in 2002, the FMPOS/University of Bamako was selected by NIAID as an International Center of Excellence in Research, with the mission of studying tropical and infectious diseases in endemic areas.
Milestones in NIAID collaborations with the FMPOS include the following:
- Establishment of the Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC) at the University of Bamako
- Development of clinical field sites to test candidate malaria vaccines and conduct studies on malaria and lymphatic filariasis
- Launch of the Centre de Recherche et Formation (SEREFO) project, which brings together physicians and researchers from Mali and the U.S. to study HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and to provide training for African scientists
- Establishment of the Mali Service Center, which provides administrative/financial infrastructure for NIAID and other NIH scientific collaborations at FMPOS and beyond
Scientific Advances
Early Promising Results in Malaria Vaccine Trial in Mali
In 2008, a small NIAID-supported clinical trial conducted by an international team of researchers in Mali found that a candidate malaria vaccine was safe and elicited strong immune responses in the 40 Malian adults who received it. The NIAID trial was the first to test this vaccine candidate, which is designed to block the malaria parasite from entering human blood cells, in a malaria-endemic country. Based on these promising results, the research team is now conducting trials of this vaccine in 400 Malian children aged 1 to 6 years.
Learn more about the Malaria Vaccine Trial in Mali.
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