Viewpoint: Parasites and partnerships

Abstract

This text grew from a series of talks between a young science journalist trained in history and Marcel Tanner, global health expert with forty years of field experience in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. At the very core of the series was the question of the successes and failures of global health initiatives at various points in time and in different locations. It also tackled the issue of which of the lessons learned in global health over the past thirty years could possibly be of importance for future scholars and decision-makers in the field. The topics touched upon ranged from new global partnerships to sustain the efforts to eradicate malaria and other diseases to new innovations in personalised health, not least for the world's most neglected populations. The views expressed here are based on scientific findings as well as personal experiences and hence are also inherently subjective. Having said this, we still hope that the rich body of evidence assembled over years of extensive field-work and research partnership is of some value to all those how still dare to embark on the adventure of global health research in a spirit of "mutual learning for change."

Keywords: Capacity building; Côte d'Ivoire; Innovation; Institution building; Malaria; Plasmodium falciparum; Research partnership; Tanzania.

Fig. 1

Babylonian language confusion (Illustration: Pia Valär, Zurich).

Fig. 2

"mutual learning for change" (Illustration: Pia Valär, Zurich).