CAMRE Research

Current and recent funding for applied malaria research and evaluation

The faculty within the Center for Applied Malaria Research and Evaluation have established a solid track record in funding, with over US$6 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, NIH, CDC, USAID and the World Bank, in countries including Haiti, Zambia, Ethiopia, Benin, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, the Gambia and Eritrea.  Current and recent funding in applied malaria research supporting faculty within the Center includes:

Ongoing Research Projects:

  1. Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) IV: Advancing Subnational Tailoring (SNT) & Impact in Priority Geographies
    Funder: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation via PATH
    Dates: 2021 –Present
    Locations: Zambia and Senegal
    Project description: The focus of this project is to support the Ministry of Health to improve malaria surveillance and intervention delivery systems while also building capacity to collect, analyze and use data at national, district and local levels. The CAMRE (Eisele PI) team’s focus is on the development and implementation of priority data collection and data analysis which will result in evidence to inform national policy and practice for malaria elimination and sustained control efforts.
  2. PMI Insights 
    Funder:  PMI
    Dates: 2020-Present
    Locations: Multi-country
    Project description: CAMRE (Eisele PI) is part of this 5-year, multidisciplinary partnership, which received $30 million in funding from the President’s Malaria Initiative when it launched in October of 2020. The project aims to generate evidence and data to inform the global malaria community of best practices; to identify and facilitate stakeholder alignment around the most pressing gaps in malaria control and elimination policy, strategy, and implementation guidance; and to disseminate of results in a clear and actionable way.
  3. PMI Measure Malaria Associate Award
    Funder:  PMI
    Dates: 2019-Present
    Locations: Multi-country
    Project description: CAMRE (Ashton PI) is a partner on the 5-year Measure Malaria award, which received $36 million in funding from the President’s Malaria Initiative in June 2019. The project aims to strengthen malaria information systems and build capacity in PMI-supported countries for malaria surveillance, monitoring and evaluation. The CAMRE team’s role focuses on enhanced methods, tools, and approaches to address malaria health information challenges.
  4. Evaluation of Attractive Toxic Sugar Baits against Malaria 
    Funder: Innovative Vector Control Consortium, via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
    Dates: 2018 – present
    Locations: Zambia
    Project description: In collaboration with PATH-MACEPA, this project focuses on evaluating the impact of attractive toxic sugar baits using a community randomized controlled trial in Zambia at lowering malaria outcomes in a moderate and seasonal malaria transmission setting. This is a multi-site trial with study sites in Zambia, Mali and Kenya.

Completed Research Projects:

  1. Strengthening Malaria Monitoring and Evaluation Systems (SMMES) in Ethiopia
    Funder: USAID-Ethiopia
    Dates: 2014-2022
    Locations: Ethiopia
    Project description: The focus of this multi-year project was to support malaria epidemic detection in Ethiopia, in addition to providing technical support to the Federal Ministry of Health for malaria prevention and control. This project was done in collaboration with Addis Continental Institute of Public Health and the President’s Malaria Initiative. In 2020 CAMRE (Keating PI) and the project was awarded a two-year extension to assist with tMDA study and Primaquine study.
  2. New Nets: Cost and Cost Effectiveness of Next Generation Long Lasting Insecticide Treated bednets
    Funder: PATH
    Dates: 2019-2021
    Locations: Global
    Project description:
    In collaboration with PATH, CAMRE (Yukich PI) led the economic research of the cost effectiveness of next generation LLINs
  3. Malaria Zero - http://www.malariazeroalliance.org/)
    Funder: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
    Dates: 2015 – 2020
    Locations: Haiti and the Dominican Republic
    Project description: CAMRE, as part of the Malaria Zero consortium, has received a 6-year $30 million grant from the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation focused on eliminating malaria from Haiti. The Malaria Zero consortium consists of Tulane-CAMRE (Eisele PI), the CDC, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the Carter Center, PAHO, the Haitian Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population, and the CDC Foundation. CAMRE-Tulane is responsible for leading operations research and the evaluation of malaria transmission interruption within HaMEC.
  4. Malaria Elimination in Zambia (MACEPA II and III)
    Funder: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation via PATH
    Dates: 2014 –2020
    Locations: Zambia
    Project description: The focus of this project was to assess the impact of a mass drug administration (MDA) strategy using dihydroartemisinin + piperaquine (DHAp) to eliminate malaria in southern Province Zambia using a community randomized controlled trial (CRCT). Sub-studies embedded within the larger overall impact evaluation included quantifying the population coverage of the MDA interventions; identification of systematic barriers to achieving high coverage; assessing and comparing the cost and cost-effectiveness of MDA with DHAp to no mass treatment; assessing the adherence of taking a full course of DHAp by the MDA interventions; assessing the clearance of asexual stage parasites at day 7 following the administration of DHAp; and assessing the acceptability of participating in the MDA interventions among community members and health care leaders.
  5. Cost-effectiveness, Willingness to Pay and social acceptability of push-pull systems for malaria vector control in Kenya and Tanzania
    Funder: Swiss Tropical Institute and IVCC
    Dates: 2018 – 2019
    Locations: Kenya and Tanzania
    Project description:
  6. VectorWorks
    Funder: USAID
    Dates: 2014 – 2019
    Locations: Global
    Project description: In 2014, CAMRE (Yukich PI) won an award as a partner on the VectorWorks project, a $30 Million award from USAID to fund a partnership between Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, Population Services International, the Mennonite Economic Development Agency, Tropical Health LLP, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine to support the development and deployment of new and existing vector control interventions for malaria.
  7. Measure Evaluation
    Funder: USAID
    Dates: 2014 – 2019
    Locations: Multi-country
    Project description: The focus of this 5-year project was to support the Presidents Malaria Initiative in monitoring, surveillance and evaluations of their malaria programs across Africa.
  8. International Center for Excellence in Malaria Research (ICEMR)
    Funder: NIH
    Dates: 2010 – 2017
    Locations: Senegal, Gambia, Mali
    Project description: This 7-year peer-reviewed umbrella research grant assessed epidemiological and entomological dynamics related to malaria transmission, genetic diversity, prevention and control at 4 sites in The Gambia, Mali, and Senegal.
  9. Collaboration on Malaria Research with PATH-Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa (MACEPA I)
    Funder: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation via PATH
    Dates: 2010 – 2013
    Locations: Zambia, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Senegal
    Project description: The focus of this project was to support the PATH-MACEPA project in malaria M&E and operations research, including the following: measuring / modeling malaria transmission; malaria epidemiology; measuring malaria intervention coverage; evaluation of Mass Screen and Treat intervention; evaluating impact of national program in Zambia; capacity development in malaria epidemiology, sampling and program evaluation; participation in RBM Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group; and participation in the WHO Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group.
  10. Ethiopia Malaria Surveillance (Ethiopia Associate Award)
    Funder: USAID-Ethiopia
    Dates: 09/2009 – 10/2013
    Locations: Ethiopia
    Project description: The focus of this project was to develop an SMS reporting system for collecting malaria case data at 85 health centers and posts, supporting PMI Ethiopia malaria impact evaluation, developing a malaria data reporting system, strengthening capacity at health centers and posts to record and report malaria epidemics in Oromia, and contributing to the evidence base of how travel relates to malaria infection.
  11. Lives Saved Tool (LiST) Modeling for the Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group
    Funder: BMGF via UNICEF USA Fund
    Dates: 6/2008 – 03/2013
    Project description: Project focused on the review, development and maintenance of estimates of impact of intervention on malaria mortality in Africa.
  12. Improving Malaria Diagnostics (IMAD) sub-agreement
    Funder: USAID
    Dates: 09/2011 – 04/2013
    Locations: Ghana and Benin
    Project description: The project focused assessing diagnostic capacity in PMI countries, with Tulane focusing on the following malaria activities under the IMAD impact evaluation: data collection, training and implementation within selected health facilities; development of survey instruments; and data analysis.
  13. Translating Efficacy into Effectiveness of Insecticide-treated Nets (ITNs) Using an Interpersonal Communication Intervention to Decrease the Gap Between ITN Ownership and Use
    Funder: CDC- R18CK000102-01
    Dates: 10/2007 – 9/2011
    Locations: Zambia
    Project description: The long-term goal of the project was to provide public health scientists and officials with an effective intervention to optimize ITN uptake and use among children and pregnant women as they become more widely available through the scale-up of national distribution programs. It is hypothesized that a village-based interpersonal communication (IPC) intervention will increase ITN use among households already possessing them within the context of a national ITN distribution program currently underway in Zambia. The focus of this project was to: 1) test if a village-based IPC intervention increases the proportion of children using ITNs within households possessing them within the context of a large-scale ITN distribution program in the Luangwa District of Zambia; 2) determine the costs associated with achieving such increased ITN use; and 3) identify household, community and policy-level factors that facilitate or impede ITN use among children.
  14. Planning Malaria Training in Zambia
    Funder: NIH Fogarty International Center- D71TW008280-01
    Dates: 7/2009 – 6/2010
    Locations: Zambia
    Project description: The focus of this project was to plan a five-year program for providing integrated research training to Zambian scientists and health professionals in malaria control research.
  15. Impact Evaluation of Indoor Residual Spray Campaign in Eritrea
    Funder: World Bank
    Dates: 09/2009 – 10/2010
    Locations: Eritrea
    Project description: Study focused on the design and implementation of an impact evaluation, data collection training, participation in the development of survey instruments, development of data sets, and analysis of impact evaluation data.
  16. Measuring Malaria Transmission in Haiti
    Funder: USAID-Haiti
    Dates: 8/2006 – 03/2007
    Locations: Haiti
    Project description: The specific aim of this project was to obtain population-based data on the burden of malaria within the Artibonite Valley of Haiti to help guide public health strategies to control malaria and measure results.