Abstract

Oladele A. Ogunseitan

On Friday, 21st November 2008, a wonderful international symposium entitled “Malaria in the 21st Century” was held at the Beckman Center of the National Academies of Science, on the beautiful campus of the University of California, Irvine. The participants included top-notch scientists working on various strategies for mosquito vector control, vaccine development, ecology, and bioinformatics. Further, there were presentations from the funding agency Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and a panel consisting of representatives from the Millennium Foundation, and malariologists from Kenya, The Philippines, and Thailand. It is particularly noteworthy to point out the contributions of Dr. John Githuri, Head of the Human Health Division at the world renowned International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) Nairobi, Kenya. Similarly, Dr. Andrew Githeko Head of the Climate and Human Health Research Unit at the Center for Global Health Research, Kenya energized the panel and the audience with his treatise on the pursuit of “fashionable” topics in malaria research.