September 2026 Newsletter

September Newsletter

As we look ahead to October, we’re excited to bring the ACREME and Malaria Synergy Program (MSP) communities together for our 2026 Annual Meeting.

The combined meeting will be held in early October and will provide a great opportunity to share research, strengthen collaborations and connect with colleagues across the malaria research community.

We hope to see you there! The full program is included below, and we encourage you to register early as in-person places are limited.

We’re also looking forward to supporting Australian Rotarians Against Malaria (ARAM) at their event later in October. It will be another wonderful opportunity to connect research, communities and partners in our shared goal of malaria elimination.

I look forward to seeing many of you in October.

Kind regards,
Professor Freya Fowkes
Lead Investigator

Congratulations to Professor Freya Fowkes on being awarded $2.9 million through the 2026 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grants scheme for her project, “Novel surveillance strategies to achieve the last mile of malaria elimination in the Asia Pacific. This significant investment recognises Professor Fowkes’ international leadership in malaria surveillance and diagnostics and will support an ambitious program of research aimed at overcoming one of the greatest remaining challenges in global malaria control, identifying and eliminating the last pockets of transmission, a major goal of the World Health Organization to eliminate malaria in the Asia-Pacific by 2030.

Associate Professor Bridget Barber is support the development of new antimalarials to overcome the growing threat from drug resistance as malaria parasites become less sensitive to front-line therapies. A Phase 1 trial conducted by QIMR Berghofer researchers in collaboration with UniSC Clinical Trials and sponsored by the not-for-profit Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and GSK, has tested an investigational drug against the malaria parasite in humans for the first time. The study, published in the prestigious journal Science Translational Medicine, found a single dose of 20 milligrams or higher of the potential new drug rapidly killed malaria parasites and was generally well tolerated in infected volunteers, showing it’s a promising candidate for treating uncomplicated malaria.

Congratulations to Ery Setiawan on an outstanding achievement at the HTAsiaLink Conference!

Ery was awarded 1st Prize for Oral Presentation in the Economic Evaluation track. A fantastic recognition of his work and contribution to health economics research.

We spoke with Dr Win Han Oo on World Mosquito Day (20 August) about the importance of ending mosquito-borne diseases across the Asia-Pacific region. Diseases such as malaria and dengue, alongside other mosquito-borne diseases, continue to threaten millions of people in the Asia-Pacific region. They can be lethal, spread rapidly, and are incredibly difficult to eliminate due to factors such as climate change, conflict, population movement and changing patterns of transmission.But elimination is possible, and it requires collaboration. Watch the recording.

Register for ACREME’s webinar with Dan Weiss, Adam Saddler and Eugene Tan. Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) remain a cornerstone of malaria prevention, making accurate estimates of coverage and effectiveness essential for understanding disease burden and informing malaria control strategies. This presentation will explore how ITN coverage has been estimated by the Malaria Atlas Project, how these estimates are used in malaria modelling and strategic decision-making, and the challenges facing ITN modelling today. It will also highlight emerging issues including insecticide resistance, heterogeneous data quality and diverse net types, alongside new modelling approaches to better understand ITN efficacy and guide future malaria control.

Register for ACREME’s our next webinar with Rob Commons and Kamala Thriemer. The ACREME webinar series brings together diverse perspectives on policy, practice, and research to support malaria elimination across the Asia-Pacific region. Each session features invited speakers who share insights from policy, social science, implementation, programmatic, and academic research perspectives.

Australian Rotarians Against Malaria (ARAM) is proud to join forces with the Australian Centre of Research Excellence in Malaria Elimination (ACREME) and the Malaria Synergy Program (MSP) for a special collaborative event exploring the path to malaria elimination.

Bringing together researchers, clinicians, advocates and community partners, this event will showcase the latest research, evidence and partnerships driving progress towards a malaria-free future.