Understanding malaria transmission and immunity to inform malaria elimination

Malaria transmission in populations involves interactions between infection rates and prevalence that drive transmission, and the presence of malaria immunity that has the potential to reduce transmission.

Malaria immunity can act to reduce infection rates and levels of malaria parasitemia, and specific components of immunity can also function to directly block transmission of malaria. This is known as transmission-blocking immunity.

Currently, very little is known about the interactions between malaria infection rates and patterns and malaria immunity in populations, and how these interact.

Malaria control programs face the challenge that as malaria transmission declines, malaria immunity also declines, which places the population at higher risk of malaria transmission and rebound epidemics.

Objective

We aim to determine how malaria immunity impacts on the transmission of malaria and how immunity influences malaria control interventions.

This knowledge will be used to inform the development of vaccines that aim to interrupt malaria transmission to accelerate elimination.

Approach

We are analysing immune responses in populations, relative to malaria epidemiology and patterns of transmission, with a particular focus on defining the interaction between immunity and malaria transmission.

We use multi-parameter immune profiling to establish a detailed understanding of the type and kinetics of immunity, and as well as modelling to dissect the relationship between immunity and transmission.