Women driving change in malaria: Experiences with MESA

I am privileged to lead the Malaria, case management NTDs and vector borne diseases Team in the WHO Regional Office for Africa, having contributed to the roll out of several innovative malaria strategies at national level. I currently lead the development and implementation of regional policies, strategies, programmes and strategic initiatives for malaria and other tropical disease control in the region. I achieve this by developing technical frameworks, manuals and operational tools to enhance policy uptake and expansion of WHO-recommended malaria interventions. I support research and innovation for developing and deploying malaria products and services through collaborations with research institutions, harnessing knowledge and skills to strengthen institutional capacity for malaria control and elimination. I contribute to strengthening health systems and integrating malaria and other vector borne disease into national health systems of member states. I also initiate and sustain collaboration between AFRO-WHO and malaria partners. 

MESA is a veritable hub for knowledge in malaria control and eradication providing research resources, malaria partners landscape and a real vitrine to access country malaria strategies and technical resources. 

As a policy adviser, MESA provides me with a unique one-stop shop for understanding the scope and scale of malaria research projects disaggregated by partner and country. The MESA platform and tracker also provide information on the health institutions involved in research that can support capacity building activities.  

Policy makers, researchers, academia can benefit from the information available on the MESA platformMESA also tracks outcomes of global health convenings and scientific conferences, rendering accessible key knowledge generated during such events. 

Funders can benefit by understanding the mapping of financial partners and technical areas supported to inform investment decisions.

I have interacted with MESA through several of its tools including using their Deep Dive landscaping of research topics, and I also had the opportunity to take part in their Correspondents Programme during the MIM conference in Rwanda in 2025. Through the programme, I travelled to the conference and reported on the research presented there while working alongside an international group of talented researchers. It was a rewarding experience, and I am still in touch with several people from the team.  I think malaria researchers can benefit greatly from the MESA Malaria Knowledge Hub through their many tools and newsletters which are useful ways to stay up to date with research developments and connect with the wider community.

My first close interaction with MESA was in 2022 through the Correspondents Program, where I served as a Senior Editor during the 8th PAMCA Annual Conference. Through this experience, I engaged in thoughtful dialogue, connected with peers, and contributed to conversations that amplify diverse voices in malaria and public health. I have also used the MESA Knowledge Hub to stay informed about upcoming malaria-related conferences globally, helping me identify opportunities for learning, networking, and collaboration. Tools such as MESA Track have strengthened my visibility and connected me to valuable opportunities within the global malaria community.

My time as a MESA correspondent has been enriching and professionally transformative. Through the Correspondents Programme, I strengthened my ability to communicate clearly, concisely, and engagingly while connecting with passionate individuals that are committed to achieving a malaria-free world. Their dedication has been both motivating and inspiring. 

I regularly turn to the MESA Resource Hub and Calendar, the one-stop tools that I use to stay updated on emerging research, discover new initiatives and follow key events. These tools keep me abreast of ongoing activities within the community.

Platforms like MESA Track are valuable as they allow researchers to identify and connect locally and globally, fostering collaboration, strengthening networks and supporting multidisciplinary partnerships essential for addressing global health challenges.

With over 25 years of experience in resource-limited settings, Dr. Kim Lindblade has dedicated her career to researching and implementing strategies to control and eliminate infectious diseases globally. Her technical leadership has been instrumental in shaping international health policy, most notably between 2017 and 2022 when she led the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Elimination Unit within the Global Malaria Programme. In this role, she spearheaded the Elimination 2020 (E-2020) and E-2025 initiatives, a period of important progress that resulted in six countries being certified malaria-free. Most recently, she applied this expertise as the Technical Director for the PMI Insights Project and Senior Technical Advisor for the Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (MNTDs) Program at PATH.

As former Head of WHO’s Malaria Elimination Unit, I found MESA instrumental in translating research into policy. Their technical expertise was critical in conducting the rigorous systematic reviews that underpinned the 2022 WHO elimination recommendations. For the global community, MESA serves as an important intelligence hub. By centralizing data on research studies, it helps prevent duplicated efforts and points researchers and policymakers toward the interventions that will achieve the greatest impact.

It’s a rewarding experience. Having free access to a website that centralizes information on funding opportunities, scholarships, research updates, as well as providing information on ongoing projects and reports from scientific meetings for those who couldn’t attend, is of great benefit to the training of scientists working on malaria.

Staying up to date with MESA news allows us to schedule funding opportunities within the Lab’s application list to ensure its sustainability and the training of our research team. 

In my opinion, all malaria researchers should use this website for their benefit and for synchronous work at a global level in this field.

Malaria is a deadly disease affecting people, especially in Africa, including the western part of Kenya where I am a Community Health Worker (CHW) and organiser at the Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC). Pregnant moms and children under five years are at the greatest risk. In Kenya where I work, CHWs make sure that every pregnant mom in households is educated on the importance of clearing bushes and sleeping under treated nets. There is a big challenge since the Kenyan community was benefiting from nets issued by USAID and other organizations which stopped issuing. 

In 2024, MESA organised a Forum to discuss the opportunities for implementing and sustaining CHWs in malaria control and prevention. MESA gave a seat to me as a CHW to present the CHW perspective from the frontlines. This included the important role of community health workers, our needs, the need for equitable resources and just remuneration and why investing in CHWs is investing in health.

I reconnected with MESA in 2021, we received invitations for scientific events (online and later on in person) and also to share information about our activities. With P. falciparum being the main focus of malaria research, I was very happy when I attended a webinar about P. vivax (Malaria in the Shadows: Putting the Focus on the Challenges of P. vivax). Being a researcher from the Amazon region, where P. vivax is the predominant species, we are very glad that MESA does not neglect this species and the research work we are doing in this part of the world.

Additionally, I was invited to be part of the Community of practice on pfhrp2/3 gene deletions, also promoted by MESA, to give scientific and technical support to researchers and national programs mainly in African countries.

MESA is an important platform focused on malaria where we can find important information and tools to help us in our research activities. In this platform we can also share our projects, courses, workshops and other initiatives to be disseminated to the malaria community. It helps us to connect with the malaria community and increase our network regionally and worldwide.

MESA alliance is not just a malaria website, it is an important ally for those of us who do malaria research. MESA makes us feel part of a community that supports each other with the ultimate goal of eliminating this disease, hopefully in the near future.

Many parts come together to enable a strong ecosystem for evidence-informed decision-making, and I have been fortunate to work across several of them: developing transmission models that malaria programs can use to shape strategic planning and mobilize resources, implementing an interdisciplinary training program in applied malaria modeling that now runs independently at two African institutions, and building the extraordinary community that is the Applied Malaria Modeling Network (AMMnet). I am absolutely thrilled to have recently moved to AHADI (Applied Health Analytics for Delivery and Innovation), where we work toward countries’ self-reliance in public health analytics: building the tools, approaches, and skills bases needed so people can make well-informed decisions on how to spend their resources for maximum impact on health.

Both AMMnet and AHADI have key collaborations with MESA. We recognize that great things happen when people are connected and when the right environment exists to connect pieces of knowledge in systematic or unexpected ways. At AMMnet, we have benefited from MESA’s infrastructure to host and disseminate our resource library of training materials, guidance, and scientific presentations. At AHADI, we are excited to work with MESA to strengthen country portals where malaria programs and local researchers can have the opportunity to align on research priorities. I believe that we as a malaria community have barely scraped the surface of what is possible with the database that MESA has built, and I encourage not only malaria programs and researchers to use it to learn more about cutting edge work but also those interested in the science of science to use it to understand our field as a whole, and where we can improve!

Dr. Li is a Technical Officer at WHO’s Department of Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases. She has led major reforms to the WHO malaria‑free certification process, authored key WHO guidance on certification, and coordinated certification in more than 10 countries. She wrote the first global guidance on preventing re‑establishment of malaria transmission, closing a decades-long policy gap of WHO. She also led the work on border malaria, a common challenge facing countries at the last mile of malaria elimination. 

Dr. Li collaborated with MESA on the Evidence Review Group for border malaria and the technical consultation on prevention of re‑establishment. MESA has been invaluable in synthesising knowledge and highlighting ongoing research. As a platform dedicated to advancing malaria eradication science, MESA provides the malaria community with a one‑stop overview of current research, tools, and evidence, while helping identify, track, and support critical projects.

As a former malaria programme manager with interest in research and the use of data for decision making, ensuring efficient use of limited resources remains a key priority. This is where MESA comes in handy. The platform is a one stop shop for research works conducted in malaria across the globe, giving information on research findings and gaps. It also helps programmes stay informed about new interventions, technologies, and strategies. 

I can recall how useful MESA was to the NMEP-Ghana when we were drafting our National Elimination Strategic Plan (NSP2024-2028) helping us prioritize our research needs. The “Deep Dive” session especially provided useful information on intervention-based research works that were being conducted and what was lacking. 

As a manager, one key hurdle as far as research was concerned was to get researchers and institutions to connect with each other to know what the other is doing for efficiency and optimization. Though early days yet, MESA has provided a platform which made visible what research was being conducted by researchers and institutions in Ghana.

There is always a mismatch between funding and what needs to be done. That is why prioritizing research to limit duplication is important. I encourage programmes and institutions to utilize the platform by sharing their research and using it as a tool to help them refine their research agenda.

I am a molecular epidemiologist based in Brazzaville, where I have spent the past 20 years studying malaria parasites collected under diverse epidemiological conditions using molecular and immunological approaches. Throughout my career, I have been deeply committed to training African scientists, many of whom are now research leaders in their respective countries. Since 2014, I have also led a program dedicated to promoting gender equity in science, supported by both national and international partners.

The MESA Platform represents an important opportunity for the Fondation Congolaise pour la Recherche Médicale (FCRM) to strengthen its engagement in the global malaria eradication agenda. Through its knowledge-sharing mechanisms and collaborative networks, MESA facilitates access to cutting-edge scientific evidence,  and promotes South-South and North-South collaborations. It is a perfect platform for raising the visibility of FCRM. I am proud to be part of this initiative.

Engagement with the MESA Platform provides the FCRM with a valuable framework to exchange scientific knowledge, connect with leading malaria researchers, and contribute evidence generated in the Republic of Congo to the global malaria eradication effort. Such collaboration would also support the translation of research findings into policy and public health practice.

I am a malaria researcher at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, where I lead the Malariology Unit. Our work focuses on understanding malaria transmission and parasite biology to develop tools and strategies that support control and elimination. We combine molecular approaches with field and epidemiological studies to better understand how malaria spreads and how to stop it.

Our interactions with MESA have been very valuable for increasing the visibility of our work and connecting with the wider malaria community. Sharing information about our projects through MESA Track has helped highlight our group’s research and even sparked a new collaboration with another institution. The MESA Resource Hub has been a useful space to share and access protocols, training materials, and other resources supporting malaria researchers in all settings.

More broadly, platforms like MESA play an important role in bringing people together and fostering collaboration across the malaria field. As a woman working in science, I particularly value initiatives that showcase the contributions of diverse researchers and help build a more inclusive research community.