Committee to support the Forecasting Healthy Futures initiative in using weather data to fight malaria

Malaria No More, a non-governmental organization, collaborates with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in creating a multi-disciplinary India Interagency Expert Committee on Malaria and Climate (IEC) to explore and advance climate-based solutions for accelerating malaria elimination in India.

The IEC’s launch is part of a global initiative supported by Reaching the Last Mile – Forecasting Healthy Futures – to develop weather data-informed strategies and policies to improve health outcomes and accelerate progress against malaria and other deadly mosquito-borne diseases.

As malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases are highly influenced by weather and weather events, the new committee brings together leading experts and researchers from health, climate and technology fields to define and operationalize sophisticated climate-based malaria prediction tools to further propel progress toward the goal of eliminating malaria in countries around the world.

Malaria No More’s weather-based prediction model is designed to produce data-driven solutions to guide planning of national malaria prevention campaigns, test and treatment interventions, advanced positioning of medical products, and the deployment of community health workers. The forecasting model uses advanced weather data, health information, and deep learning algorithms, and produces practical visualization outputs for local decision-making in malaria control programs.

On this occasion, Dr. Kaushik Sarkar, India Country Director, Malaria No More, stated “Combining climate and malaria data with new technologies and sophisticated machine learning models offers new opportunities to time and target proven malaria interventions geographically, for cost-effectiveness and improved control. This expert committee will help ensure feasibility and functionality of data for decision making to improve India’s malaria control and prevention efforts. We also hope the IEC will serve as a model for other high-burden malaria countries to adopt as they identify innovative solutions to accelerate progress against this preventable but deadly disease.”

“As a Forecasting Healthy Futures partner, Reaching the Last Mile applauds this important milestone, which sheds light on the importance of addressing health interventions through multiple lenses and innovative approaches,” said Tala Al-Ramahi, Associate Director, Office of Strategic Affairs to the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court. “This example of cross-government collaboration will be a model we seek to replicate as we expand the initiative to Senegal and other countries across the Sahel.”

About Malaria No More

Malaria No More envisions a world where no one dies from a mosquito bite. More than a decade into our mission, our work has contributed to historic progress toward this goal. Now, we’re mobilizing the political commitment, funding, and innovation required to achieve what would be one of the greatest humanitarian accomplishments – ending malaria within our generation. For more information, visit www.malarianomore.org.

About Forecasting Healthy Futures

Convened by Malaria No More, Forecasting Healthy Futures is a unique group of global health, technology and public sector partners coming together to develop weather data-informed strategies and policies to improve health outcomes and accelerate progress against malaria and other deadly mosquito-borne diseases. By harnessing weather data, governments and partners can turn weather obstacles into opportunities. Partners include the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court’s Reaching the Last Mile initiative; The Weather Company, an IBM Business; PATH; the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation; and, the Tableau Foundation.

About Reaching the Last Mile

Reaching the Last Mile (RLM) is a portfolio of global health programs working towards disease elimination that is driven by the personal commitment of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. The Initiative provides treatment and preventative care in communities that lack access to quality health services, with a specific focus on reaching the last mile of disease elimination. RLM’s mission represents His Highness’s dedication to ending preventable diseases that affect the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities and helping millions of children and adults live healthy, dignified lives. https://www.reachingthelastmile.com/, @RLMGlobalHealth