Malaria research in the Central African Republic from 1987 to 2020: an overview

• Published in: Tropical Medicine and Health
• Main Authors: Romaric Nzoumbou-Boko, Guillaume Velut, Romeo-Karl Imboumy-Limoukou, Alexandre Manirakiza, Jean-Bernard Lekana-Douki
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2022
• Subjects: Malaria research; Control policy; Database; Publication output; Central African Republic; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic; Pasteur
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41182-022-00446-z; https://doaj.org/article/a6db4e5fca0c42f6b99af8a80aec4ebf

Abstract Background The national malaria control policy in the Central African Republic (CAR) promotes basic, clinical, and operational research on malaria in collaboration with national and international research institutions. Preparatory work for the elaboration of National Strategic Plans for the implementation of the national malaria control policy includes developing the research component, thus requiring an overview of national malaria research. Here, this survey aims to provide an inventory of malaria research as a baseline for guiding researchers and health authorities in choosing the future avenues of research. Methods Data sources and search strategy were defined to query the online Medline/PubMed database using the “medical subject headings” tool. Eligibility and study inclusion criteria were applied to the selected articles, which were classified based on year, research institute affiliations, and research topic. Results A total of 118 articles were retrieved and 51 articles were ultimately chosen for the bibliometric analysis. The number of publications on malaria has increased over time from 1987 to 2020. These articles were published in 32 different journals, the most represented being the Malaria Journal (13.73%) and the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (11.76%). The leading research topics were drug evaluation (52.94%), expatriate patients (23.54%), malaria in children (17.65%), morbidity (13.7%), and malaria during pregnancy (11.76%). The publications’ authors were mainly affiliated with the Institut Pasteur of Bangui (41%), the French Military Medical Service (15.5%), and the University of Bangui (11.7%). Collaborations were mostly established with France, the UK, and the USA; some collaborations involved Switzerland, Austria, Pakistan, Japan, Sri Lanka, Benin, Cameroun, Ivory Coast, and Madagascar. The main sources of research funding were French agencies (28.6%) and international agencies (18.3%). Most studies included were not representative of the whole country. The CAR ...