This project will quantify the costs due to vivax malaria, including productivity losses, and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of novel strategies for radical cure. The proposed research will investigate the costs of Plasmodium vivax in a range of countries, including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Peru and Vietnam. This will involve the collection of data regarding the costs to both the healthcare providers and the households of patients for each episode of vivax malaria alongside studies that are currently being set up. In addition, the candidate will evaluate the feasibility and cost of new interventions for the radical cure of P. vivax (clearing both the blood and liver stage parasites) including a new drug (tafenoquine) and new diagnostic tests for glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase (G6PD) screening. These analyses will be designed through a consultative process with the malaria control programs in each country, ensuring relevance to policy and practice.

Whilst ongoing and future studies will enable the collection of data on number of days lost to illness, methods for valuating these productivity losses in populations that aren’t in paid employment are sparse. Current practice in valuating productivity losses will be evaluated and more robust methods for future studies conducted in low- and middle-income countries will be developed. With new tools coming onto the market, this is an opportune time to be quantifying the costs of both new tools and episodes of illness due to vivax malaria.

The scholarship consists of tax-free stipends and tuition fee waivers. Each stipend will be for $30,000 per year (adjusted yearly) for three years, with an additional one-off $5,000 allocated to support part of the student’s medical insurance and relocation. Tuition fees of the PhD course (approx. $28,000 per year, adjusted yearly) will also be waived for three years. The stipend and tuition fee waivers may be extended to 3.5 years, for students who demonstrate publication of high-quality research outputs prior to applying for extension.