Better policies and less infectious diseases in Peru and Latin America (FA5 Peru – Malaria Component)

Malaria remains a significant health challenge globally, particularly in the Amazon Basin, which accounts for most malaria cases in Latin America (LATAM). Despite efforts in the region, malaria persists due to several challenges for control and elimination, including transmission in remote and border areas, human and environmental factors, difficulties in diagnosis and potential drug resistance. In Peru, the fourth-highest malaria burden country in LATAM, malaria occurs predominant in the Loreto region, with P. vivax (Pv) and P. falciparum (Pf) contributing to 85% and 15% of infections, respectively. A national malaria elimination program (NMEP) was launched in 2022 aiming to reduce malaria cases by 90% in 2030. Malaria molecular surveillance (MMS) has a big potential to contribute to decision-making by providing evidence for tailored strategies and interventions. MMS is not incorporated in Peru’s NMEP but the elimination plan took into account evidence from small scale molecular surveillance studies. Our team has developed novel MMS tools: Pv AmpliSeq v2 Peru and Pf AmpliSeq v1 Peru assays and validated them using hundreds of samples from Loreto. These are targeted next generation sequencing (NGS) assays based on deep amplicon sequencing that serve applications (“uses cases”) related to transmission dynamics (with country-specific and global SNP barcodes), drug resistance (with 11–17 resistance associated genes) and performance of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) based on histidine rich protein 2 and 3 (pfhrp2/3) genes in P. falciparum. With the AmpliSeq assays, we have described recent P. falciparum lineages and characterized the heterogeneous P. vivax transmission in Peru.

P. vivax
Surveillance

Jan 2022 — Dec 2026

$197,767

Peru

Development of tools and strategies for malaria molecular surveillance. Countries included: Peru, Vietnam, Rwanda, Burkina Faso and DRC.