IMACS, a virtual center of excellence, has been established to advance multidisciplinary approaches to malaria strategies informed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and climate data while supporting their adoption by malaria control programs worldwide
In a bid to address malaria in the light of climate change and weather volatility, Malaria No More, an international NGO announced the launch of a new global institute – the Institute for Malaria and Climate Solutions (IMACS) – in partnership with the Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi (CPC) and it is Reaching the Last Mile (RLM) initiative.
IMACS, a virtual center of excellence, has been established to advance multidisciplinary approaches to malaria strategies informed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and climate data while supporting their adoption by malaria control programs worldwide. The institute is a part of the Forecasting Healthy Futures (FHF) initiative, a consortium convened by Malaria No More and the Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi’s Reaching the Last Mile in 2020 to drive innovation and investment in global health solutions in the context of climate change. In partnership with the Government of India and the Government of Odisha, FHF has designed and implemented a Malaria Prediction & Planning Toolkit, which IMACS will work to replicate in other malaria-affected countries around the world.
IMACS will advance innovations in data and technology-informed malaria programs, foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among an international network of experts, and convene an annual scientific conference to showcase the most promising novel approaches to building climate resilience in health systems. It will also actively support the translation of those approaches to practical and applicable solutions, by deploying multidisciplinary technical assistance to malaria-endemic countries.
Dr Kaushik Sarkar, Director-in-Charge of Malaria No More India, was appointed as IMACS’ inaugural Director. Commenting on the launch, Dr Sarkar, said, “The Institute for Malaria and Climate Solutions serves as a robust opportunity to address the climate inequalities and injustices impeding Global Health ambitions such as malaria eradication. Through this virtual center of excellence, we hope to pioneer the effort of climate-proofing global health solutions and paving an innovative way of combatting climate-sensitive diseases through collective wisdom, state-of-art technologies and interdisciplinary approaches.”