Macha
Macha is located in the Southern province of Zambia, 80 km from the nearest town of Choma and 300 km by road (or a 55 minute flight) from the capital city of Lusaka.
The area provides a relatively pristine research environment. The rural population has not applied insecticides or employed bed nets to any degree, circumstances that provide a variety of opportunities not available in settings with a higher level of management. The topography of the area is somewhat undulating, primarily open savanna woodland averaging 900 meters above sea level. The climate is tropical with a rainy season that runs approximately November to June.
The Community
The Macha area is populated by traditional villagers, primarily members of the Batonga tribe, living in small scattered homesteads usually consisting of one extended family. There are no commercial farmers or industries in this area. The primary livelihood is subsistence farming with maize being the main crop. The staple diet is cooked maize-meal supplemented with peanuts, sweet potatoes and leafy green vegetables. While much of the population is stable, younger adults tend to move to and from the urban areas of the country.
There is an estimated population of 128,000 (c. 2000) within an approximately 35 km radius of the Institute. Macha Hospital serves as a referral hospital for a number of smaller hospitals and rural health centers, bringing patients from an 80 km radius.
Overall population density in this area is 25 per square kilometer and 50 percent of the population is under 12 years of age. Other specific data for the local population are not reliable, but country-wide the crude birth rate is 49.5 per 1,000 population with an infant mortality of 107 per 1,000 live births. Average life expectancy at birth is 48.3 years.
Macha Mission Hospital
Macha Mission Hospital is a 208-bed acute care hospital including a comprehensive community health program, outpatient clinic system, and nurse’s training school. Macha Mission Hospital is a moderately equipped rural hospital, setting a high standard for medical care in low-resource settings. Associated with the hospital is the Macha Research Trust, one of three research facilities in Zambia mainly focusing on malaria, HIV and TB.
Since 1980, medical students and residents from the USA, Canada, England and the Netherlands, as well as Zambia’s own medical school, have been studying at Macha.
Macha Research Trust
The Malaria Institute at Macha (MIAM), currently known as the Macha Research Trust (MRT), is a malaria research field station and training center established in 2003 with the signing of a collaborative Memorandum of Understanding between four partners—the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and its Malaria Research Institute, the Zambian government, the Macha Mission Hospital and the Macha Malaria Research Institute. With major sponsorship from the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (JHMRI), MIAM greatly expanded the existing infrastructure available to host visiting scientists and students at Macha. MIAM opened officially in January 2005. While priority is given to malaria research, MIAM will host investigations in other diseases if space and resources are available. In 2013 the Macha Research Trust was formed .
History
Macha Hospital was established in 1957 as a mission hospital under the Brethren in Christ Church of North America, and has functioned within the program of the Ministry of Health of the Zambian government since that time. Since 1990 the hospital has been administered by the Zambian Brethren in Christ Church. Now a 208-bed facility, it is considered a district-level hospital by the Zambian government.
Malaria research has been conducted at the hospital since 1989. In 1994, a malaria research institute was formally registered as an independent institute with the Zambian government under the name of Macha Hospital Malaria Research Institute (MHMRI). The Institute was registered for the purpose of continuing research on various aspects of malaria, including drug trials, as well as efforts to control and prevent malaria. In 1997, a legally separate organization, the Macha Malaria Research Institute (MMRI), was incorporated as a non-profit organization in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, and under this organization further grants were obtained and projects carried out at Macha Hospital.
Over 20 privately and publicly funded studies have been carried out at Macha by MHMRI and MMRI investigators, including those on malaria transmission, diagnosis, drug evaluation and treatment, resulting in 21 publications by 2004 in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
