INLSA

Picture: Karen Sandison

The Durban International Convention Centre has clinched another global medical conference – this time the city will play host to malaria experts from around the world.

The Medical Research Council and the city have been told that Durban has won the bid to host the 2013 6th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Pan African Conference (MIM), the world’s largest gathering of the malaria community, that takes place every three to four years.

The MRC worked with the Durban KZN Convention Bureau and the ICC to formulate the winning bid for the medical conference.

It will be worth more than R18 million to the Durban and KZN economy.

It will bring together some 1 800 researchers, activities, health workers, public health officials and policymakers, said Professor Rajendra Maharaj, director of the Durban Malaria Research Unit of the MRC.

Maharaj believes getting the right to host the gathering is a testament to the work of the research unit. He said that “researchers affiliated to the MRU discovered the two main causes of the 2000 KZN malaria epidemic.

“This was pyrethroid resistance and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine resistance. Based on data from these studies, insecticide and drug policies were changed in KZN which resulted in a sustained decline in malaria transmission.”

Another research highlight has been the successful implementation of the cross-border malaria control programme of the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative.