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Malaria control by commodities without practical malariology

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Public Health, June 2017
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  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (70th percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (51st percentile)

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Title
Malaria control by commodities without practical malariology
Published in
BMC Public Health, June 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12889-017-4454-x
Pubmed ID
Authors

J. Kevin Baird

Abstract

Malaria remains a serious clinical and public health problem, the object of an ongoing technological and humanitarian struggle to abate the very substantial harm done. The manner by which humanity approached malaria control changed abruptly and profoundly after 1945 with the advent of the insecticide DDT. Malariologists in the first half of the twentieth century conceived precise modifications to natural or man-made environments aimed at making those less hospitable to specific anopheline mosquito vector species. This practical malariology achieved very significant reductions in burdens of morbidity and mortality, but the revolutionary insecticide eliminated the need for its specialized knowledge and diverse practices. By 1970 mosquito resistance to DDT and perceived environmental concerns precipitated the collapse of what had been a vigorous global campaign to eradicate malaria. Humanity did not then revitalize practical malariology but turned to another commodity as the foundation of control strategy, the war-spurred suite of synthetic antimalarial drugs developed in the 1940s and 1950s. When those drugs became lost to parasite resistance in the latter twentieth century, malaria resurged globally. Since 2005, tens of billions of dollars mobilized new commodities to control malaria: point-of-care diagnostics, effective artemisinin-based treatments, and longer-lasting insecticide treated bed nets. The know-how of practical malariology is not part of that ongoing commodities-based strategy. This article examines contemporary malaria control in the broad strokes of a strategy mitigating the consequences of infection contrasted to that of the abandoned practical malariology strategy of prevention. The inherent risks and limitations of over-reliance upon commodities in striving to control malaria may prompt consideration of a strategic posture inclusive of the proven methods of practical malariology.

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X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 9 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 51 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 51 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 6 12%
Student > Master 6 12%
Student > Ph. D. Student 5 10%
Student > Bachelor 5 10%
Other 4 8%
Other 10 20%
Unknown 15 29%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 8 16%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 6 12%
Medicine and Dentistry 6 12%
Nursing and Health Professions 3 6%
Computer Science 2 4%
Other 10 20%
Unknown 16 31%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 March 2019.
All research outputs
#6,215,369
of 24,395,432 outputs
Outputs from BMC Public Health
#6,273
of 16,118 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#93,172
of 320,842 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Public Health
#128
of 262 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,395,432 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 74th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 16,118 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.4. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 60% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 320,842 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 262 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 51% of its contemporaries.