by Professor Nick Day 

Welcome to the website of the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU). We are eager to help you learn more about our work, and  hope that you will find the site useful and informative.  

Tropical infectious diseases remain a major cause of death, sickness and economic hardship for millions of people in the developing world. Malaria alone accounts for an estimated one million deaths every year, the majority of victims being young children.  It is estimated that there are over 300 million cases of malaria annually, costing US$12 billion in lost productivity - a huge burden for some of world’s poorest countries, their fragile health systems, their economies, and their populations. Overall approximately half of all deaths in the tropics are related to infectious diseases.

MORU, with generous support of the Wellcome Trust, has been studying and combating tropical diseases since 1979, and is uniquely placed to study some of the most challenging diseases affecting people in the developing world. Our biggest achievements to date have been in the field of malaria, in understanding the mechanisms of how the parasite causes disease and how drug resistance develops and spreads, and developing and testing new methods for treating uncomplicated malaria, severe malaria, and malaria in pregnancy. We have a long-term commitment to working with vulnerable communities in high-risk malaria zones, and we now treat more than 20,000 cases of malaria annually.

Our work in tackling neglected tropical diseases has led to the development of strong and lasting collaborations with governments, hospitals and academic colleagues across the globe, as well as supporting the education and professional development of local health staff, all of which are are key to successfully managing and eliminating dangerous infections.

Half the world’s population live in the East Asian region, where there are major threats to regional and global health. We lack accurate clinical epidemiological information, particularly on the causes of acute febrile illness. The emergence and spread of artemisinin resistance from Cambodia; the scourge of fake and substandard anti-infective drugs; and the possibility of a worldwide human influenza pandemic pose serious risks for the world.  MORU is  strongly placed to address these problems effectively, and make a significant impact on human health in the region and beyond.