World Health Organization Africa Region, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
Tropical and Vector Borne Diseases, Universal Health Coverage/Communicable and Non Communicable Disease Cluster, World Health Organization Africa Region, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
Malar J. 2023 Feb 3;22(1):40. doi: 10.1186/s12936-023-04454-0.
In 2019, an estimated 409,000 people died of malaria and most of them were young children in sub-Saharan Africa. In a bid to combat malaria epidemics, several technological innovations that have contributed significantly to malaria response have been developed across the world. This paper presents a systematized review and identifies key technological innovations that have been developed worldwide targeting different areas of the malaria response, which include surveillance, microplanning, prevention, diagnosis and management.
A systematized literature review which involved a structured search of the malaria technological innovations followed by a quantitative and narrative description and synthesis of the innovations was carried out. The malaria technological innovations were electronically retrieved from scientific databases that include PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, IEEE and Science Direct. Additional innovations were found across grey sources such as the Google Play Store, Apple App Store and cooperate websites. This was done using keywords pertaining to different malaria response areas combined with the words "innovation or technology" in a search query. The search was conducted between July 2021 and December 2021. Drugs, vaccines, social programmes, and apps in non-English were excluded. The quality of technological innovations included was based on reported impact and an exclusion criterion set by the authors.
Out of over 1000 malaria innovations and programmes, only 650 key malaria technological innovations were considered for further review. There were web-based innovations (34%), mobile-based applications (28%), diagnostic tools and devices (25%), and drone-based technologies (13%.
This study was undertaken to unveil impactful and contextually relevant malaria innovations that can be adapted in Africa. This was in response to the existing knowledge gap about the comprehensive technological landscape for malaria response. The paper provides information that countries and key malaria control stakeholders can leverage with regards to adopting some of these technologies as part of the malaria response in their respective countries. The paper has also highlighted key drivers including infrastructural requirements to foster development and scaling up of innovations. In order to stimulate development of innovations in Africa, countries should prioritize investment in infrastructure for information and communication technologies and also drone technologies. These should be accompanied by the right policies and incentive frameworks.
2019 年，约有 40.9 万人死于疟疾，其中大多数是撒哈拉以南非洲的儿童。为了应对疟疾疫情，世界各地开发了许多对疟疾应对做出重大贡献的技术创新。本文系统地回顾了这些创新，并确定了已在全球范围内开发的针对疟疾应对各个领域的关键技术创新，包括监测、微观规划、预防、诊断和管理。
我们进行了系统的文献综述，包括对疟疾技术创新的结构化搜索，然后对创新进行定量和叙述性描述和综合。我们从包括 PubMed、Google Scholar、Scopus、IEEE 和 Science Direct 在内的科学数据库中电子检索疟疾技术创新，还从灰色来源（如 Google Play Store、Apple App Store 和合作网站）中查找了其他创新。这是通过在搜索查询中结合不同疟疾应对领域的关键词和“创新或技术”一词来完成的。搜索于 2021 年 7 月至 2021 年 12 月进行。排除了非英语的药物、疫苗、社会方案和应用程序。纳入的技术创新质量基于报告的影响和作者设定的排除标准。
在 1000 多项疟疾创新和方案中，只有 650 项关键疟疾技术创新被认为需要进一步审查。其中包括基于网络的创新（34%）、基于移动的应用程序（28%）、诊断工具和设备（25%）和无人机技术（13%）。
本研究旨在揭示具有影响力和与背景相关的疟疾创新，可以在非洲进行调整。这是为了应对关于疟疾应对全面技术格局的现有知识差距。本文提供了有关信息，各国和疟疾控制的主要利益攸关方可根据这些技术中的一些作为其各自国家疟疾应对的一部分进行利用。本文还强调了基础设施要求等关键驱动因素，以促进创新的开发和扩大。为了刺激非洲的创新发展，各国应优先投资于信息和通信技术以及无人机技术的基础设施。还应制定正确的政策和激励框架。
