8-9 May, 2023
On the 8th and 9th of May, the GenRe-Mekong team hosted the GRC Data Analysis Training workshop at the Pullman Bangkok King Power hotel; bringing together 22 representatives from research institutes and national malaria control programs (NMCPs) across Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Despite experiencing staggering reductions in malaria, the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) remains a threat to global malaria elimination efforts due to antimalarial resistance. Hence, the workshop aimed to achieve two key objectives: developing in-country expertise in using genetic epidemiological data, specifically antimalarial resistance data from the genetic report cards (GRC), and strengthening existing collaborations.
The GRC is a comprehensive dataset detailing the genetic signatures of malaria isolates collected in the region. Participants were trained how to analyze the GRC with Excel and the grcMalaria R package, enabling them to produce maps that capture the current antimalarial resistance landscape. This analysis supports NMCPs in monitoring resistance, guiding drug policy, and surveilling the spread of resistance strains.
“This was an interesting workshop that provided a fundamental introduction to NMCP officers and scientific partners to get familiar with mapping drug resistance data from Genetic Reported Cards using R” Dr. Nguyen Thanh Thuy Nhien, Vice Head of Malaria Research at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU)
Dr. Nguyen Thanh Thuy Nhien, Vice Head of Malaria Research at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), described the workshop as “..an interesting workshop that provided a fundamental introduction to NMCP officers and scientific partners to get familiar with mapping drug resistance data from Genetic Reported Cards using R”. Dr. Nguyen continued, “This was also a great opportunity for GenRe-Mekong partners to network and share knowledge on malaria control and elimination.”
A key takeaway from the discussions was the recognition that antimalarial resistance, once it emerges, inevitably spills across borders, and therefore effective surveillance of drug resistance rests upon collaboration and data sharing between NMCPs. Indeed, for such a transnational issue, international cooperation is not merely advantageous, but necessary. In this respect, the GRC Data Analysis Training workshop contributes to efforts toward malaria elimination in the GMS, both through knowledge transfer and by strengthening collaborative efforts.
📺 View recordings and resources from the workshop here
Article by: Ethan Booth & Varanya Wasakul