Welcome to the July 2024 newsletter!
Please contact info@ammnet.org if you would like to contribute any items to next month’s newsletter.
Register for the next AMMnet Monthly Seminar | August 6, 15 hr UTC
Navigating cultural differences in international research groups
Speaker: Letitia Onyango
Letitia Onyango is a Senior Researcher at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on effective partnerships, intercultural researcher engagement, and capacity development for research and innovation. Letitia has overseen research projects across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe.
Her upcoming seminar focuses on the challenges and opportunities presented by cultural differences in scientific research partnerships. This presentation will provide researchers with tools to engage in multicultural research partnerships while navigating differences in global research practices.
Thank you to the AMMnet Career Development Committee for organizing this seminar.
Real-time interpretation to French and Portuguese will be available.
Register for the August 6 Seminar Here
Look for more details to come soon for Future AMMnet Seminars
September 3:
Guest speaker: Chijioke Kaduru and Fellows from Nigeria Malaria Modeling Fellowship
October 8:
Guest speaker: Sam Jones, Medicines for Malaria Venture
Register for the Hackathon, Introduction to Data Visualization in R!
July 23, 11 hr UTC
Join us for the first AMMnet Hackathon session on July 23, 11hr UTC.
The topic for this session will be *Introduction to Data Visualization in R*.
This two-hour session will cover characterizing your data and exploratory visualization, creating plots with the ggplot2 package, and developing publication-quality visualizations.
This will be an interactive webinar that will include sample data, code, and exercises/challenges. All backgrounds and experience levels are encouraged to join!
Please use this link to register. We will share an email containing the session materials with all registered participants later this week. The session will be recorded and made publicly available to all AMMnet members.
Register for the Hackathon Here
AMMnet Leadership Opportunities
Join the Board and Contribute to the Direction of AMMnet
Would you like to hold a leadership role and work with members of the AMMnet Board to set the long-term strategy, oversee the committees and ensure the future and sustainability of the organization?
If you have participated in AMMnet’s committees, you are eligible to run for a Board member position!
If you are interested in running for a Board position but you haven't yet participated in an AMMnet committee, get involved now. Send an email with your interest to info@ammnet.org.
Look for a call for Board member applications to come soon!
Board Role & ExpectationsAMMnet Committees
Join the AMMnet Slack Workspace
Join the AMMnet Slack Workspace and connect directly with members, get announcements, including job, funding, collaborative opportunities and information about upcoming events.
Jobs and Grant Opportunities
Thank you to the 27 AMMnet Large Events Award Applicants!
Our large events task force will be busy reviewing all the applications in the coming weeks.
The next Large Events Award application deadline is November 15.
AMMnet is offering members the opportunity to hold large events with a training or educational purpose consistent with AMMnet’s mission.
The types of activities that can be supported by this award include, but are not limited to:
- Implementation of a short course, summer school, or multiple workshops
- Development of training materials and curriculum
- Delivery of trainings related to malaria modeling and/or analytics
- Organization of an annual meeting of multiple chapters, as long as a training component is included
- Other activities with a strong educational or training focus that support AMMnet’s mission of exchanging knowledge to improve support offered to malaria programs and advance general malaria research.
This award has a budget range of up to $40,000, which must be expended within 18 months of the awarded date. Up to 10% additional facilities and administration fees may be added according to the policies of the awarded institution, for a total award of up to $44,000.
Application Guide and Instructions on the AMMnet website
AMMnet Small Event Award
September 1 Deadline
Submit by September 1 to be considered for the next funding cycle.
Submissions received by September 1 will be evaluated by the review committee. The committee aims to choose 5 events for funding at each funding cycle.
AMMnet Funding Opportunity for Small Local Events:
AMMnet would like to encourage the growth of local chapters and is looking to support small local in-person events such as meetings, conferences, or workshops.
Thus far, we funded 28 AMMnet events in 15 countries! An awardee list is available here.
You may find guidelines and requirements for submission on the AMMnet website at the link here.
We especially encourage our francophone and lusophone members to apply, and we accept applications in English, French, or Portuguese.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to info@ammnet.org with any questions. We look forward to receiving your application!
Guidelines for Small Event Award Applications
Workshops and Conferences
ASTMH Annual Meeting: November 13-17, 2024, in New Orleans, USA
Registration is now open!
The ASTMH Annual Meeting is the premier international forum for the exchange of scientific and clinical advances in tropical medicine, hygiene and global health. World-class research findings, clinical updates and topical discussions about the hot-button global issues from the world’s brightest scientific experts and thought leaders are presented over five days.
The scientific program is designed for researchers, professors, government and public health officials, military personnel, travel clinic physicians, practicing physicians in tropical medicine, students, and all healthcare providers working in the fields of tropical medicine, hygiene, and global health. The meeting draws thousands of tropical medicine and global health professionals representing academia, foundations, government, not-for-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, the military, and private practice.
November 13-17, 2024 (Wednesday through Sunday)
New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Find more information and register
Courses and Learning Opportunities
New Resources Added to the AMMnet Trainings Webpage
The AMMnet Learning Committee has added two new resources to the Trainings webpage:
- Introduction to Data Analysis Using R training materials
- MINT Practical Training Cameroon May 2024 materials
If you haven't visited the Trainings webpage, navigate there and find resources relevant to your own work and career development.
If you have trainings and resources you'd like to share with the AMMnet community, send an email to info@ammnet.org.
Subgroups, Working Groups, and Regional Activities
AMMnet Lusophone's First Seminar:
Mathematical Modeling as a Tool for Decision-Making in the Fight Against Malaria
Strategic use of information to guide subnational adaptation of malaria interventions: General concepts and examples.
Friday, July 19, 9:00 GMT
Guest speaker: Bea Galatas, WHO Global Malaria Program
Dr. Beatriz Galatas is an epidemiologist working in the Strategic Information and Response Unit of the WHO Global Malaria Programme. She is currently the focal point in the GMP for the support provided by WHO to NMCPs in sub-national adaptation of malaria interventions to inform malaria strategic planning, funding requests and implementation, monitoring and evaluation. In this role, she has provided HTA support to more than 30 malaria-endemic countries over the past four years. She is also the focal person for the burden estimates of the World Malaria Report. Before joining the WHO, Beatriz worked as a research assistant at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and the Manhiça Health Research Center (CISM) in Mozambique. She was responsible for the implementation and coordination of several operational and research studies on malaria, aimed at understanding whether malaria elimination can be achieved in a scenario of moderate transmission in rural sub-Saharan Africa with the tools currently available. She obtained her PhD from the University of Barcelona in 2020 and was awarded for her work at the university, as well as by the American School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, where she received the Young Investigator Award in 2019. Beatriz's experience in malaria field research, combined with analytical skills and exposure to local and global decision-making processes, make her an expert in translational health.
This seminar will be in Portuguese.
Look for a recording (in Portuguese only) to be posted on the AMMnet website after the meeting.
Register for the Lusophone Seminar Here
Congratulations to the latest recipients of the AMMnet Small Event Award!
Tanzania: Strategic Modeling for NMCPs: Empowering Malaria Control through Model-Based Decision-Making
Gloria Shirima and Janice Stephen Maige, Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology
AMMnet has a policy for formally establishing a Local Chapter!
AMMnet’s Local Chapters bring together modelers, analysts, scientists, public health professionals, partner institutions and civil society, to work together locally to adopt common approaches to improve the use of modeling and analytics for controlling and eliminating malaria whilst reflecting the mission of Global AMMnet.
If you are an AMMnet member and you are interested in establishing a local chapter, please refer the information and guidelines found in the link below.
If you have any questions, considerations or suggestions for establishing local AMMnet chapters, please send us an email at info@ammnet.org.
Local Chapter Information & Guidance
Seminar Recap and Recordings
AMMnet Seminar Series: 2024 July 2, Benjamin Kamala
ITN Distribution Updates Mainland Tanzania: Logistics, Process & Accountability Systems
The July 2nd AMMnet seminar was given by Dr. Benjamin Kamala, a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Director for the PMI Vector Control Project. Dr. Kamala provided an overview of the strategic approach for ITN distribution in Tanzania. Three channels are used for ITN distribution: 1) health facility distribution, which provides ITNs to infants, pregnant individuals, and special groups, 2) the school net program, which uses students to deliver ITNs to their households, and 3) targeted mass campaigns that occur in moderate and high malaria transmission strata areas. Dr. Kamala described delivery and reporting chains, challenges encountered, and the results of analyses to evaluate the performance of distribution channels. He also provided an overview of modeling work conducted to estimate ITN access at the council level in Tanzania, the results of which were used to estimate the number of ITNs needed for upcoming ITN distribution efforts.
You may find a recording of the seminar on our website along with recordings from other past special events and seminars.
