Introduction: International Symposium on Modern Trends in Malaria

Malaria continues to kill some two million people a year, half of whom are young children. We have no vaccine, the parasite has become resistant to the most effective drugs, and elimination of the mosquito vector through spraying with insecticide is being questioned. Yet research on malaria is — at last — being funded reasonably well. What has been achieved? Scientists gathered at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi from 13-15 February 2003 to discuss these issues. Because many antima-larial strategies work at the cell surface (see the abstract on Membranes as future therapeutic targets) it seems appropriate to give readers of Bioscience Reports: Molecular and Cellular Biology of the Cell Surface an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the current situation through the (unedited) abstracts of the invited speakers.