From Sept 11-13 2024, Ifakara Health Institute and the Gates Foundation, hosted the three-day 2024 Grand Challenges Africa Meeting (GCAM Tz) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. 

This event has brought together global scientific partners working in malaria control and elimination, alongside experts focused on strengthening research development in low-and-middle-income countries.

Grand Challenges is a family of initiatives fostering innovation to solve key global health and development problems

Participants from around the world have gathered to listen to presentations from Ifakara Health Institute, the Gates Foundation, and other leading institutions. These sessions explore the latest advancements in malaria research, innovative approaches, and policy frameworks aimed at tackling the disease.

Day 1: Setting the Context, Innovative Vector Control
The opening and welcome remarks were delivered by Dr. Honorati Masanja, Chief Executive Director of Ifakara, and Phillip Welkhoff, Director of Malaria and Director of the Institute for Disease Modeling at the Gates Foundation. 

Dr. Ally Olotu, Ifakara’s Director of Science, and Fredros Okomu, Ifakara’s former Director of Science, set the context by discussing the landscape of vector control followed by presentations spanning innovative vector control strategies, pathways to market, the regulatory landscape, and future directions in malaria and the Grand Challenges initiative.

Day 2: Genetic Biocontrol
Several institutions presented their work on genetically modified mosquitoes, including Oxitec, Target Malaria, and the Transmission Zero project. Sessions focused on the potential of genetic biocontrol, uniting African stakeholders, and incorporating gender-balanced approaches into malaria interventions. An interactive session provided various perspectives on malaria genomics and discussed the role of molecular mosquito surveillance (MMS) in vector control and product development.

Final Day: Site Visits to Three Locations
The final day featured immersive site visits to Ifakara, Bagamoyo, and Zanzibar. During these visits, Ifakara showcased its advanced research facilities and satellite offices, offering interactive sessions with malariologists, key stakeholders, and government officials.

The meeting’s objectives are to strengthen grassroots engagement in the fight against malaria, bridge gaps in research and development, enhance policy advocacy, and address regulatory challenges. Through collaboration and knowledge exchange, GCAM Tz aims to accelerate global efforts towards malaria control and elimination.

More on Grand challenges 

“Launched in 2003 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as Grand Challenges in Global Health, this initiative initially focused on 14 major scientific challenges that, if solved, could lead to key advances in preventing, treating, and curing the diseases and health conditions contributing most to global health inequity. It was relaunched in 2014 as Grand Challenges, its new name reflecting its expanded scope encompassing challenges in global development.  Explore awarded grants, watch grantee videos, read a 10-year retrospective of 14 of the original 44 projects, and watch videos from the 2014 (10th anniversary) Grand Challenges annual meeting in Seattle.” Grand Challenges, 2024, www.grandchallenges.org.