Sharing data to fight malaria

Over 250 Institutions participate in the effort of sharing data on the efficacy of antimalarial drugs, which involves standardising and re-analysing data. Bringing all this data together creates new evidence that can be translated into policy practice, offering new therapeutic options for particular populations.

View podcast transcript

After working as a physician in France and Nepal, Philippe joined Médecins Sans Frontières where he gained extensive experience of working in the field and as a researcher working on malaria and tuberculosis. Before moving to IDDO, he spent six years as the Scientific Director of Epicentre in Paris, a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Response to Emerging Diseases. Prior to this, he spent three years as a senior advisor at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

The Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO) collates and pools clinical, laboratory and epidemiological data on select poverty-related diseases and emerging infections. The assembled data are used to answer explicit scientific and operational questions with the vision of providing effective control and treatment of infectious diseases affecting the most vulnerable populations.

IDDO is building upon the success of the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN), a scientifically independent, multi-disciplinary platform, founded in 2009 to provide the information necessary to prevent or alleviate antimalarial drug resistance and therefore reduce malaria morbidity and mortality.

The IDDO Secretariat is hosted by the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health at the University of Oxford and is working in collaboration with regional hubs in Asia, Africa and Latin America, with the goal of transferring management of the data platforms to endemic countries.