Speaker Details

Dr Joel Breman

Biography

Joel G. Breman, M.D., D.T.P.H., was educated at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC); and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He was trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases, and in epidemiology. Dr. Breman was advisor to the Guinean Smallpox Eradication-Measles Control Program from 1967-1969. From 1972-1976, he was responsible for disease surveillance and vaccine research with the Organization for Coordination and Cooperation in the Control of the Major Endemic Diseases in Burkina Faso. In 1976, in the DRC, Dr. Breman investigated the first outbreak of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever. He was in the Smallpox Eradication Unit, WHO from 1977-1980. In 1980, Dr. Breman returned to the CDC and began work on malaria. Dr. Breman joined the Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health in 1995. He has been Deputy Director of the Division of International Training and Research, director of several infectious diseases and research and training programs, and Senior Scientific Advisor. Dr. Breman has authored over 100 publications focused on infectious diseases and research capacity strengthening in developing countries. He was on the editorial board of a 1999 JID supplement on Ebola virus; is co-managing editor of the Disease Control Priorities Project; and the lead editor of 3 supplements on malaria to the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (2001, 2004, 2007).

Abstract

Conquering the Intolerable Burden of Malaria: Promises to Practice...to Scale Up

Malaria is endemic in over 100 countries containing half the world’s population. Close to two million persons die yearly from malaria—over 5,000 per day, mainly young children. Plasmodium falciparum, one of the four human malaria parasites, causes the most severe disease, manifesting in anemia, low birth weight, cerebral malaria, metabolic derangements, and dire sequelae including cognitive impairment. The greatest burden of malaria is in sub-Saharan African due to the pervasiveness of Anopheles gambiae, the female of which prefers humans for its blood meals. P. vivax is now recognized as causing up to 400 million clinical episodes of malaria yearly, with added dangers due to its relapsing nature Recent advances in malaria research and public health practice have resulted in use of artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACTs) for patients exposed to drug resistant malaria; long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) for personal protection; intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for pregnant women; and a renewed interest in insecticide residual spraying (IRS) of dwellings with DDT and alternate insecticides. Organizations stimulating the major increases in malaria research, control and prevention are the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria, Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria, World Health Organization, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Southern African countries, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Zanzibar Island report sharp decreases in the malaria burden giving hope that sustained control and elimination of this scourge may be possible.