KEMRI-Wellcome Trust runs web-based malaria parasite prevalence training course

The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme held a successful three-day malaria parasite mapping training programme designed to help NMCPs use open source resource to characterise prevalence in their countries to enhance subnational targeting of resources.

Participants from the National Malaria Control Programmes (NMCPs) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,  Kenya,  Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda attended the course. The objectives of the course were to learn about:

• data requirements, formats, sources and preparation for mapping malaria parasite prevalence using excel and QGIS software
• basics of model-based geostatistics as a technique of interpolating malaria parasite prevalence
• how to use a web-based platform to carry out malaria prevalence mapping
• presenting the results obtained from the web-based platform.

The attendees gained knowledge about the concepts around creating malaria risk maps and how to interpret the results using a standardised platform. This then enabled them to visualise the output in QGIS and make a map. The course used malaria data from the countries involved, therefore presenting an opportunity to produce up-to-date modelled malaria prevalence maps for the NMCPs to use for decision-making at a local level.