Marked annually on 25 April, World Malaria Day raises awareness of one of the world’s most persistent infectious diseases and reinforces the global commitment to reducing its impact. The 2026 theme, “Driven to end malaria: Now we can. Now we must.”, highlights the urgency of accelerating action, strengthening innovation, and expanding access to effective prevention, diagnosis, and treatment strategies.
According to the latest estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO), malaria continues to pose a major global health challenge, with more than 260 million cases and over 600,000 deaths reported worldwide each year. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most affected region, particularly among children under five years of age and pregnant women.
At the GHTM | Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (IHMT NOVA), researchers continue to contribute to innovative approaches aimed at improving malaria diagnosis and control. Among them, Márcia Medeiros, MD and researcher from VBD-GHTM Research Group, has been involved in the development of rapid and highly sensitive molecular diagnostic strategies capable of transforming malaria detection in endemic settings.
Current gold-standard diagnostic methods, such as microscopy and immunochromatographic rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), are limited in their ability to detect low-parasitaemia or submicroscopic infections and cannot identify molecular markers associated with antimalarial drug resistance.
To address these challenges, researchers from GHTM | IHMT NOVA developed, within the RESMALDETECT project supported by GHTM, an innovative isothermal nucleic acid amplification (iNAA) protocol based on recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA).
The protocol, recently described by Pinto et al. (2025), enables the detection of molecular markers of resistance to pyrimethamine — a key antimalarial drug used in chemoprevention programmes for pregnant women and children in endemic regions — in less than 25 minutes. The technology aims to simplify complex molecular diagnostic procedures while maintaining high sensitivity, specificity, and robustness, making them more accessible for use in field and point-of-care settings.
In parallel, within the European DxHub initiative funded by Horizon Europe, GHTM | IHMT NOVA researchers and the Portuguese biotechnology company STAB VIDA are collaborating in the MalPoC-PCR project. This initiative focuses on developing an iNAA-RPA protocol for the rapid detection of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax, the two most clinically relevant malaria parasite species affecting humans worldwide.
By contributing to the development of faster, portable, and more accessible diagnostic solutions, the work carried out by Márcia Medeiros and the VBD-GHTM team reinforces the importance of innovation in the global fight against malaria and aligns closely with the goals highlighted in this year’s World Malaria Day campaign: turning scientific progress into concrete action towards malaria elimination.
This article is published as part of the World Malaria Day 2026 celebrations. To learn more about our work on malaria, see our related news:
GHTM marks World Malaria Day 2026, highlighting research innovation in the fight to end malaria
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