Professor Richard Price

Contact information

Podcast interview

Curing Plasmodium vivax malaria

Vivax malaria used to be considered benign but is now recognised as an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Resistance to chloroquine (given to treat the parasite blood stage) is growing and ACT (artemisinin-based combination therapy) is becoming common treatment for vivax malaria. New drugs and better public health strategies can help elimination targets, anticipated for 2030.

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Research groups

MORU Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit

Ethiopian Clinic

Vietnam Hospital

Richard Price

Professor of Tropical Medicine

Wellcome Clinical Fellow, Asia Pacific, Australia

Vivax malaria

The main focus of our translational research programme is to improve the diagnosis and management of vivax malaria. To achieve this we are working with 15 malaria endemic countries across the Asia-Pacific region and Horn of Africa to:

define the direct and indirect morbidity and mortality of vivax malaria
optimise the safe and effective radical cure of vivax malaria,
improve the molecular surveillance of drug resistant malaria,
evaluate the impact and cost effectiveness of novel treatment and malaria control activities.

The programme is being conducted in collaboration with the Mahidol Oxford Research Unit (MORU) in Thailand and the Menzies School of Health Research (MSHR) in Darwin.

I am head of the clinical module of the World Wide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN) and co-chair the Vivax Working Group of the Asia-Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN).