Focussing on the steps needed to eradicate malaria, not just control it, can broaden and stimulate support for health research agendas.

Climate change's complex links with insect-borne disease need solid research — not alarmism that distracts from other crucial factors.

Although research on malaria needs greater support, the fight against the disease will not be won in the laboratory but with tools in the field, many of which already exist. Improved techniques are needed to communicate this reality to decision-makers.

There are few clearer examples of the need to combine high-tech solutions to development issues with the reality of problems as experienced and perceived on the ground than the challenge of designing an international strategy to combat malaria.

The successful sequencing of two malaria-related genomes has been virtually ignored by the African media. Nothing better indicates the need to enhance science communication on the continent.