MMV’s film on real-world tafenoquine study wins advocacy award at the 7th annual ISNTD festival
ISNTD’s annual festival brings together communication, arts, entertainment and science to help ensure important public health messages reach patients, the public and global health professionals
On 16 March, at the seventh annual International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases (ISNTD) Festival, MMV was awarded the Advocacy award for its film, ‘From science to real life: tackling relapsing malaria in the Amazon’. The short film focuses on the Tafenoquine Rollout Study (TRuST), which was the first real-world, large-scale application of single-dose tafenoquine for Plasmodium vivax malaria. TRuST was co-sponsored by MMV and the Brazilian Ministry of Health and led by the Tropical Medicine Foundation of Amazonas (FMT) and the Tropical Medicine Research Center of Rondônia (CEPEM).
Kamran Rafiq, Co-Founder and Communications Director at ISNTD, said “From science to real life is a powerful advocacy tool, portraying a simple message that supports policy adoption. What made it a particularly strong message was the inclusion of the viewpoints of the different stakeholders who were involved in the research and implementation of the new treatment protocol for Plasmodium vivax malaria."
Although known for its beautiful fauna and flora, the Amazonian region is also home to 99.5% of Brazil’s malaria burden. Ronaldo Menezes Lucena, one of the patients featured in the film, lives in Manaus and knows first-hand how debilitating the disease can be. He, like many others, has suffered from P. vivax malaria which relapses unless fully treated, meaning that multiple episodes of malaria are caused by a single mosquito bite. In some regions, relapsing infections are even more prevalent than initial infections.
Elodie Jambert, Senior Director of Access and Product Management at MMV, said “I am honoured that MMV's film was chosen for this award. The film shows the hard work and dedication of community health workers bringing life-changing new tools to people in challenging conditions in order to tackle this debilitating disease.”
Meeting the needs of pregnant and lactating women: MMV’s MiMBa strategy was also featured in the festival’s film showcase.
*This article first appeared on Medicines For Malaria’s website