Archimedes Lecture 2023, Mathematical Biology

Mathematics against malaria: how do we fight resistance to available drugs? Using Mathematical models for monitoring the emergence & spread of certain drug resistances. 

The effect of malaria on the developing world is devastating.  Each year there are more than 200 million cases and over 400,000 deaths, with children under the age of five the most vulnerable. Ambitious malaria elimination targets have been set by the World Health Organization for 2030. These involve the elimination of the disease in at least 35 countries. However, these malaria elimination targets rest precariously on us being able to identify, diagnose and treat the disease appropriately.   

In this talk, I will introduce several statistical and mathematical models for monitoring the emergence and spread of antimalarial drug resistance.

I will then discuss how the results of these models have been used to update public health policy, showing how mathematics can really help to inform strategies against malaria and other infectious diseases.

Key speaker

Prof Jennifer Flegg - Future Fellow, Dept of Mathematics, Melbourne University

Jennifer is a Professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on mathematical biology in areas such as wound healing, tumour growth and infectious disease epidemiology.