Malaria research in Malawi from 1984 to 2016: a literature review and bibliometric analysis

Malaria Journal

Review

Herbert Longwe¹  Kamija S. Phiri²  Christiaan de Jager³  Chikondi A. Mwendera³  Clifford M. Mutero⁴  Charles Hongoro⁵ 

[1] ICAP at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, Pretoria, South Africa;School of Public Health and Family Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi;University of Pretoria Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control (UP ISMC), School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X363, 0001, Pretoria, South Africa;University of Pretoria Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control (UP ISMC), School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X363, 0001, Pretoria, South Africa;International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), P.O. Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya;University of Pretoria Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control (UP ISMC), School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X363, 0001, Pretoria, South Africa;Population Health, Health Systems and Innovation, Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Pretoria, South Africa;

关键词: Malaria research;    Funding;    Health policy;    Malawi;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12936-017-1895-8

 received in 2017-04-11, accepted in 2017-06-06,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMalaria research can play a vital role in addressing the malaria burden in Malawi. An organized approach in addressing malaria in Malawi started in 1984 by the establishment of the first National Malaria Control Programme and research was recognized to be significant. This study aimed to assess the type and amount of malaria research conducted in Malawi from 1984 to 2016 and its related source of funding.MethodsA systematic literature search was conducted in the Medline/PubMed database for Malawian publications and approved malaria studies from two Ethical Committees were examined. Bibliometric analysis was utilized to capture the affiliations of first and senior/last authors, funding acknowledgements, while titles, abstracts and accessed full text were examined for research type.ResultsA total of 483 publications and 165 approved studies were analysed. Clinical and basic research in the fields of malaria in pregnancy 105 (21.5%), severe malaria 97 (20.1%) and vector and/or agent dynamics 69 (14.3%) dominated in the publications while morbidity 33 (20%), severe malaria 28 (17%) and Health Policy and Systems Research 24 (14.5%) dominated in the approved studies. In the publications, 146 (30%) first authors and 100 (21%) senior authors, and 88 (53.3%) principal investigators in approved studies were affiliated to Malawian-based institutions. Most researchers were affiliated to the Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust, College of Medicine, Blantyre Malaria Project, Ministry of Health, and Malaria Alert Centre. The major malaria research funders were the National Institute for Health/USA, Wellcome Trust and the US Agency for International Development. Only three (2.5%) out of 118 journals publishing research on malaria in Malawi were from Africa and the Malaria Journal, with 76 (15.7%) publications, published most of the research from Malawi, followed by the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene with 57 (11.8%) in comparison to only 13 (2.7%) published in the local Malawi Medical Journal.ConclusionsClinical and basic research, which is mostly funded externally, in the fields of malaria in pregnancy, severe malaria and vector and/or agent dynamics dominated, while health policy and system research was least supported. The quantity may reflect scientific research activity but the initial primary impact is contribution to policy development.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2017