New Tools and Strategies

Faced with challenges such as drug resistance and poverty, new tools and strategies for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease must continue to evolve. TARGETS undertakes multidisciplinary lab and field-based research under a wide range of conditions to assess control methods for both major and neglected diseases.

Recent TARGETS findings include confirmation that amodiaquine can be used to prevent malaria in pregnant women, providing a valuable alternative to the current therapy which is poorly tolerated. Research has also led to the acceptance of a new cadre of junior laboratory technicians to aid TB diagnosis in Zambia, where school leavers are provided with microscopy skills. Work with new technologies and lab-based research in London supports the case for more efficient, acceptable and sustainable TB diagnostic tools for use at community level.