AABB Marks World Malaria Day
April 23, 2021
AABB joins a global coalition of organizations led by the
RBM Partnership to End Malaria in marking the 13th Annual World Malaria Day on April 25. This year, World Malaria Day aims to highlight the
successes of countries in the fight against malaria, inspire a new group of countries that have the potential to eliminate the disease by 2025, and demonstrate that zero malaria is within reach for all countries.
The
World Malaria Day website includes a
toolkit that organizations can use to promote the day, share advice for malaria prevention, raise awareness of the global challenges in beating malaria and teach the importance of ending malaria for good.
AABB is proud to support research to improve health outcomes for patients with malaria through the National Blood Foundation (NBF). In 2018, AABB members helped fund an
NBF grant awarded to Antonella Nai, PhD.
Nai’s NBF-funded research sought to establish the role of TFR2 on erythroid precursors in a murine model of malaria to provide a new potential therapeutic intervention. Nai completed the project this year, and findings suggest that TFR2 is a candidate therapeutic target for malarial anemia. However, the mechanism of parasitemia reduction by TFR2 deletion, as well as the definition of an appropriate therapeutic targeting of TFR2, remain to be identified.
NBF will recognize Nai as an NBF Scholar during this year’s
AABB Annual Meeting. AABB encourages members to invest in emerging research by
making a tax-deductible gift to the NBF today.