ICMR has launched the Malaria Elimination Research Alliance (MERA)- India and organized the Stakeholders’ Meeting at ICMR Hqrs, New Delhi on 24 April to have vibrant discussions on the roadmap of the Alliance. National and International leaders of malaria research, officials from Government of India, NGOs participated in the daylong meeting.

Indian Council of Medical Research has established ‘Malaria Elimination Research Alliance-India (MERA-India)’ which is a conglomeration of partners working on malaria control. The principal activity of the Alliance is to prioritize, plan, conduct, scale up and translate relevant research in a coordinated and combinatorial way in order to have a tangible impact of this research on the population at risk for malaria.

The purpose of MERA India is to identify, articulate, prioritize and respond to the research needs of the country to eliminate malaria from India by 2030. MERA India will facilitate trans-institutional coordination and collaboration around a shared research agenda which responds to not only to programmatic challenges and addresses gaps in available tools but also proactively contribute to targeted research. MERA India aims to harness and reinforce research in coordinated and combinatorial ways in order to achieve tangible impact on malaria elimination.