Why RITAM?

Malaria is recognised as one of the key priorities for the World Health Organisation. The programme of research that was drafted from the initial meetings on malaria in Dakar, Senegal, in 1997 included research into herbal antimalarials. Although traditional plants are used as a first-line treatment for malaria by 25% of people in malaria-endemic countries (and up to 75% in some areas), and over 1200 plant species are used in this way, there has hardly been any clinical research in this field. Only six traditional herbal antimalarials have been investigated in controlled clinical trials. Sadly, there seems to be little interest in funding this type of work.

What is RITAM?

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- A partnership between the Global Initiative For Traditional Systems (GIFTS) of Health at the University of Oxford www.giftsofhealth.org, and international researchers working on traditional medicine for malaria

- A global network of researchers and others who are interested in validating local herbal medicines to prevent and/or treat malaria, and local methods of insect repellance and vector control. Membership of RITAM is free, and communications are in English. We now have over 200 members from at least 30 countries in four continents.

RITAM membership is open to individuals but not to companies. RITAM's name and network cannot be used for marketing herbal products or for commercial bioprospecting.

Aims of RITAM

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1. To establish and strengthen links between researchers interested in research on traditional antimalarial methods, in different countries and institutions.
2. To catalogue and review current knowledge on traditional antimalarial methods.
3. To share new ideas and discoveries on traditional antimalarial methods.
4. To determine research priorities, design optimal research methodologies, and avoid replication of research.
5. To help forge partnerships between researchers in this field and funding agencies.
6. To make an important global contribution to the control of malaria, through the use of traditional antimalarial methods.

How will RITAM achieve these aims?

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1. Contact List:

Members are invited to provide a short synopsis of their work and interests, for circulation to other members, to facilitate contact and partnerships between researchers with similar interests. Regional and national networks are being developed, and are already running in India and Zambia.

2. Newsletter:

Members are kept up to date with developments by an electronic newsletter.

3. Specialist Groups

These are electronic networks of members with special interests. They have set themselves their own targets, for example to develop guidelines for different research areas. All RITAM members are invited to join these groups. The groups are:
a) Policy, Advocacy and Funding
b) Preclinical Studies
c) Clinical Development
d) Insect Repellents, Vector Control and other Measures
e) Artemisia annua Task Force

There are also two committees to advise on RITAM projects:
a) Ethical committee: members are required to have previous experience of serving on ethical committees, and should be available by e-mail to comment on proposals at short notice.
b) Statistical committee: members should have experience of biological or medical statistics, and should be willing to provide advice on study proposals at short notice by e-mail.

4. Database:

Members of each group are helping to build up a central database of published and unpublished work on traditional herbal antimalarials. Sections of the database include: treatment seeking and ethnomedical studies; ethnobotanical studies; pharmacological studies; clinical case reports and studies; insect repellents and vector control. It is hoped to make this more readily accessible, perhaps via the internet.

5. Meetings:

RITAM held its first international meeting in collaboration with the WHO in Moshi, Tanzania, in December 1999. The programme and report are on the internet at http://mim.nih.gov/english/partnerships/, and http://www.who.int/tdr/publications/publications/ritam.htm RITAM has participated in several other international conferences, too numerous to list here. Of note, a special meeting on natural products chemistry was hosted by WHO in Geneva at the end of August 2000. Progress on targets set in Moshi was reviewed during special sessions at the Third Pan-African MIM Conference in November 2002.

6. Publications

Systematic reviews and guidelines for research on herbal antimalarials have been published in a book entitled "Traditional Medicinal Plants and Malaria" (CRC press, 2004). RITAM members are entitled to a 15% discount on the price of this book and orders from Africa, India and Pakistan are entitled to a 50% discount.

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