Geneva – Unitaid has launched a call for proposals for new projects that can help eliminate the world’s second-most common species of malaria, Plasmodium vivax, by improving access to better pediatric and adult treatments.

More than one-third of the world population, mostly in Asia and Latin America, is at risk of P. vivax, a mosquito-borne parasite that causes severe illness and death and takes a heavy financial toll on patients and caregivers. 

The rural poor are at high risk for P. vivax, along with migrant populations, marginalized groups. Children under five years old are most at risk of suffering negative health impacts as the result of their vivax infection.

Two medicines are needed to cure patients with P. vivax, one to treat the immediate illness, and a second to clear malaria parasites from the liver so the disease cannot recur. Clearing the parasites is referred to as “radical cure.”

The expansion of radical cure would reinforce global malaria goals for 2030, among them, to reduce malaria by 90 percent and eliminate the disease in 35 countries.

The deadline to submit a proposal is 17 April, 2019, at noon.

For further details of the call, please click here.

P. vivax is the predominant form of malaria in countries that are prime candidates for eliminating the disease. According to the World Health Organization, the parasite accounts for more than 70 percent of malaria cases in countries with fewer than 5,000 cases per year.

Through its calls for proposals, Unitaid finds smart new ideas to help relieve the burden of diseases, conducts pilots that, if successful, are scaled up by partner organizations such as the Global Fund. A review committee of independent experts in global health helps Unitaid choose the best proposals to fund through a competitive selection process.