R. Geigy Stiftung

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The R. Geigy FoundationFrom Innovation to Implementation

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The Founder and his Foundation

Winners of the R. Geigy Foundation Award

About Research

The R. Geigy Foundation in Numbers

The R. Geigy Foundation: The Institution

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4 Preface

8 Rudolf Geigy (1902 –1995) and the R. Geigy Foundation

11 The laboratory, the field and development

13 From the laboratory to intervention, from assistance to partnership

15 The R. Geigy Foundation and the R. Geigy Foundation Award

22 2000: Fred Newton Binka – Institutionalised health

28 2002: Lea Knopf – The economy of the tick

34 2004: Japhet Kihonda – A leading authority on mosquitoes

38 2006: Clara Menéndez – Health for mother and child

42 2008: Alphonse Um Boock – The health of metropolises and a neglected epidemic

48 2010: Esther Schelling – ‹One Health› Health for humans and animals

54 2012: Manuel Hetzel – Malaria-Worlds

64 Daniel Mäusezahl, Joanna Schellenberg, Salim Abdulla,

Susanna Hausmann-Muela, Ingrid Felger, Hassan Mshinda, Mauro Bodio

89 The Foundation’s Total Fund Amount

89 Money Granted from 1977 to 2011

92 Supported Dissertations from 1977 to 2011

98 Supported Postdoctoral Research and Grants from the Eremitage-Funds, 1977 to 2011

100 Grants paid out to the R. Geigy Foundation Award, 2000 to 2010

104 Institutional Developments

106 Members and Functions 2012

108 Former Members of the Foundation’s Board

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Preface

On the 110th anniversary of the birth of founder Rudolf Geigy (20 De -c ember 1902–8 March 1995), we are happy to present to you this book -let describing the activities of the R. Geigy Foundation. In 1976, whileconducting post-retirement research, Rudolf Geigy set up the founda -t ion to support the Swiss Tropical Institute, now the Swiss Tropicaland Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH). Its main purpose was to encour -age young people engaged in research, teaching and application inthe fields of parasitology, infection biology, epidemiology and inter-national health and to maintain the institute’s infrastructure.

Since then, we have sought to fulfil the foundation’s purpose compre-hensively. We take this opportunity to look back on what has beenachieved and to reflect on what guides and inspires us to act on ourfounder’s behalf, in accordance with his vision, and to invest funds infinding solutions to important development issues in the world. Thisbooklet does not seek to describe the foundation’s activities by merelyenumerating the projects completed or in progress, but by primarilyoffering insights into the work and ideas of the winners of the R. GeigyFoundation Award, which has been granted every two years since 2001.All of these highly motivated and dedicated people from North andSouth, through their impressive work and exceptional commitment,have created innovative approaches and⁄or have successfully appliedscientific discoveries for the benefit of the peoples concerned.In spite of the comparatively large resources currently available forinternational health from charities, research organisations and devel -

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op ment aid agencies, the foundation still endeavours to inspire, promote and catalyse innovative ideas and effective approaches fortheir application. Like Dante Alighieri (1265-1301), we are convincedthat “A powerful flame comes from a tiny spark.” Our founder also be-lieved in this principle. We hope you find this account of our foundation’s activities stimula t - ing and look forward to your questions, reactions or even participationin making a small contribution to world health. Finally, we thank Ulrich Wasser and Thierry A. Freyvogel for their helpwith clarifying the contents and Martina Ott, Margrith Slaoui, LukasMeier, Thomas Schuppisser, for the creative design and realisation ofthis small book.

Board of Trustees, Basel 20th December 2012Marcel Tanner (President)

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Rudolf Geigy (1902–1995) and the R. Geigy Foundation

One morning in October 1945, Rudolf Geigy, the zoologist and directorof the Swiss Tropical Institute, escaped the blistering heat of the Congoand boarded a plane that brought him back to Europe, via Cameroonand Sudan, in three days. The refrigerator he carried with him was notfor his personal comfort, but for transporting hundreds of tsetse fliesthat would probably not have survived the journey without refrigera -t ion. The tsetse fly is the vector of human African trypanosomiasisand attempts to breed them at a European research institute had metwith little success until then. At the time, no one could have anticipat -ed the remarkable international career of the flies in the cellar of theSwiss Tropical Institute. The same was true of Geigy’s scientific career,for he could have exchanged at any time the hot climatic zones forcool, air-conditioned offices.

The Geigys were one of the long-established wealthy Basel familieswho greatly influenced the city’s cultural and political life until the1960s. Rudolf Geigy’s father, Johann Rudolf Geigy-Schlumberger(1862–1933), headed the Geigy chemical corporation. Like Ciba andSandoz, it owed its success to the boom in textile dyes after the FirstWorld War. Nothing would have denied Rudolf Geigy a career in indu-stry if he had not already developed a keen interest in natural sciencesat an early age. After attending the prestigious Humanistisches Gym-nasium, Geigy decided to study zoology at the University of Basel,where he embarked on a course of study under Friedrich Zschokke.Later, he studied under Emile Guyénot in Geneva, who favoured a zoo-

The Founder and his Foundation

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logy more strongly focussed on physiological processes. In 1930, Geigygraduated with his thesis in experimental developmental biology,which caused a sensation, even abroad. After his doctorate, Geigy re-turned to Basel where he was first appointed as a research assistantto Zschokke and later to Adolf Portmann, whose academic careerGeigy’s father, Johann Rudolf, had supported. During the 1930s, Geigymade his mark as a scientist at the University of Basel. After his ap-pointment as a university lecturer, he was awarded a lectureship inexperimental embryology and genetics. Three years later, he becamean assistant professor at the University of Basel. Geigy’s research in the field of developmental biology consolidatedhis reputation as a creative and skilful experimenter. He was one ofthe first scientists in Switzerland to develop new techniques forlaborat ory experiments and he pioneered the use of film and photo-graphy in teaching and research. With the foundation of the SwissTropical Institute, of which he became director in 1943, he concentrat -ed more on the interaction between pathogens, intermediate hostsand the development of tropical diseases in humans. No longer couldhe restrict himself to the laboratory and experimentation to furtherhis scientific discoveries; the new focus required him to investigatethe natural environment, the preservation of which Geigy had alwaysupheld. Geigy possessed tremendous imagination and determination. Hisenergy and fascination with the secrets of nature enabled him to com-municate his enthusiasm for scientific work to his colleagues andfriends. Of the numerous ways he altered Swiss scientific research

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two approaches in particular have profoundly influenced the work ofthe Swiss Tropical Institute and the R. Geigy Foundation and thus de-serve special mention: the detailed exchange of information betweenlaboratory and field research and the way that these exchanges led toan active partnership that extended beyond national frontiers.

“Thus something fundamental has been said, but something has not been pointed out [that] the scientific laboratory cannot do

without or should not do without even today: the ‘field’. That place where the natural scientist should seek new inspiration

again and again, and where now, more than ever, urgent [...] tasks await him”.

Rudolf Geigy, Erforschung der Natur im Feld und Laboratorium,

in: Verhandlungen der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft (wissenschaftlicher Teil), 150. Jahresversammlung in Basel, 1970, pp. 9–22

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The laboratory, the field and development

Breaking out of the isolation of the laboratory and engaging in fieldwork was something Geigy took for granted. The significance of thefield as a place for scientific research outside of the laboratory haschanged over time. In Geigy’s day, the field had long been the naturalenvironment of parasites and carriers of tropical diseases that providedthe laboratory with a steady flow of scientific samples and evidence.But the field was also the place where pathogens, human activity andnatural environmental conditions interacted. Geigy was certain thatonly a full understanding of these ecological, social and biological con-ditions could lead to a clearer conception of the complex transmissionpathways of tropical diseases. Thus, the field was extended to embracean entire continent. After the creation of the Centre Suisse de Recher-ches Scientifiques (CSRS) in Côte d’Ivoire and the Swiss Tropical Insti-tute Field Laboratory (STIFL) in Tanganyika in the 1950s, the institute’sscientific activity was influenced by the dramatic events in Africa’spolitical and social history. When both countries achieved independ -ence in the early 1960s, field research became an eminently politicalaffair. Development aid was a timely answer to Africa’s political uphea-vals, which was also embraced by the Swiss Tropical Institute. Geigyinterpreted the African decolonisation process as a ‘leap to indepen-dence’, which could only succeed if the young African states copiedwestern models of development as quickly as possible. Though it wasobvious whose conceptions of modern government were to be copied,Geigy always interpreted development aid as a reciprocal learning pro-cess on a ‘common human basis’.

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Special importance was attached to training an African middle class.Geigy’s concept of ‘training on the spot’ had already been realised in1961. In Ifakara, Tanzania, where the Swiss Tropical Institute maintain -ed its field laboratory, the Rural Aid Center (RAC) was founded with financial support from Basel’s pharmaceutical industry to trainpara medical staff. The school was subsequently transformed into the Med i c al Assistants Training Center (MATC) and was handed overto the Tanzanian government in 1978.

“We are only at the beginning and it would be presumptuous to express an opinion on how this great experiment will end.

While we are involved in it, we must, without fear of risk or failure, always be prepared to bow to the

unexpected and withdraw, or, who can say, rejoice at the new trends[that] the aspiring peoples will now bring

into the activities of the world”.

Rudolf Geigy, Der Sprung in die Selbständigkeit. Entwicklungshilfe und Menschheitsproblem. Rektoratsrede, gehalten an der Jahresfeier

der Universität Basel am 23. November 1962.

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From the laboratory to intervention, from assistance to partnership

Geigy’s legacy in laboratory and field research and also in developmentassistance continued after his resignation as director of the institute.As members of the Working Group on Health at the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Aid (SDA), Geigy’s successors, Thierry Freyvogel andAntoine Degrémont, intensified their relations with the main actorsof Swiss development policy and helped to make science and healthimportant subjects of Swiss development assistance. Together withthe Swiss Academy of Sciences, Freyvogel played a leading role in crea-ting the Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Coun-tries (RPDC) and was involved in preparing the so-called Eleven Princi-ples, which were translated into several languages, giving instructionson how to conduct international research. In the 1970s and 1980s, therelationship between laboratory research and field work also under-went fundamental changes in that field work was increasingly asso-ciated with concrete interventions. The field was no longer used formultidisciplinary description of epidemiological conditions alone. In-stead, it was a specific place where concrete improvements in health-care, based on laboratory research and in close consultation with thelocal population, were envisaged. Swiss TPH’s present director, MarcelTanner, has further intensified these principles. Tanner has promotedthe creation of international networks and consortia with circumspect -ion and foresight. These networks bring together scientists, politiciansand entrepreneurs from North and South to seek solutions to thespread of deadly diseases in Africa and Asia. An interesting example

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of this is the NETCELL project, a national health initiative in Tanzania.Based on research from Swiss TPH, the London School of Hygiene andTropical Medicine and the Ifakara Health Institute, it campaigns forthe widespread use of mosquito nets to protect against malaria. Sincethe inception of NETCELL in 1999, over 60% of Tanzanian householdshave acquired mosquito nets and this has been associated with an ap-preciable reduction of disease cases. Ideas and concepts based on partnership have become importantmainstays of the work of Swiss TPH in the past few years, influencingthe self-conception of the institute and its staff. One of the most im-portant reasons for adopting this approach is the realisation that welive in an interdependent world in which global problems call for com-mon solutions. Swiss TPH has consistently acted in the same way thatGeigy and his successors did. The constant exchange of informationbetween ‘laboratory’ and ‘field’ level research and with it the elimi-nation of the frontiers between basic research and applied sciencehave enabled the institute to make significant contributions to theimprovement of public health – not only in Africa but worldwide.

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The R. Geigy Foundation and the R. Geigy Foundation Award

The close relationship between laboratory and field research and thepractice of research partnerships in a globalised world are also guidingprinciples of the R. Geigy Foundation. In 1998, the foundation as weknow it today emerged from a series of forerunners that Geigy usedduring his lifetime*. The foundation’s purpose is to support Swiss TPH.It maintains and manages the properties under its ownership and makes them available to Swiss TPH on preferential conditions and ona non-profit basis. The R. Geigy Foundation uses its assets to supportSwiss TPH projects, in particular:

A Research and teaching projects

A Publications by staff and doctoral candidates

A Purchases of books for the library and of instruments and apparatuses

Through its contributions to doctoral theses and research projects,the foundation, as an architect of science, is interested primarily inpromoting the two fundamental principles of integrated laboratoryand field work and research partnership. Since 2002, the R. GeigyFoundation has conferred the R. Geigy Foundation Award on candi -dat es who have distinguished themselves in the field of tropical diseases and public health and whose scientific careers are still intheir early stages.

* The institutional development is described in more detail on pp. 102–103

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The following brief portraits of the R. Geigy Foundation Award winnersprovide insights into a world of science that is concerned not onlywith identifying unacceptable conditions but also with remedyingthem through actual laboratory research, field work and partnerships.

They are evidence of a will to work together and learn from one anotherand of the joy and surprises that the research process offers time andagain.

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Rudolf Geigy during an expedition in Ulanga District (Tanganyika) in 1954

Fred Newton Binka

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Fred Newton Binka

Institutionalised health

R . G E I G Y F O U N D AT I O N AW A R D

2000

Fred Binka (middle) amongst his medical team, Navrongo Health Research Center

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The journey from Accra, the capital of Ghana, to Navrongo in theNorth, over a bumpy track, takes ten hours – with a little luck.Navrongo is the economic centre of the Kassena-Nankana district;a town where most of its 25,000 inhabitants still have to managewithout running water or an efficient electricity supply. Anyonevisiting the rural district twenty years ago would have been dis-tressed by the high child mortality rate. Fortunately, there hasbeen a distinct improvement in the health situation of the districtin the intervening years. The Navrongo Health Research Center,set up in 1988 as part of an international research project, playedan important part in this development. Proving that supplementingchildren’s food with vitamin A leads to a 20% reduction in childmort ality placed the centre in the limelight of international re-search. The centre’s slow but steady success also benefited frompolitical processes on an international level. In 1987, the World Health Organization (WHO) presented its strat -egy of focussing on ‘district health systems’ at a conference inHarare (Zimbabwe). Public health interventions would no longerbe designed to cover entire countries as in the past, but would beadapted to the specific conditions of individual districts. In con-crete terms, efforts were made to ensure that the health authori-ties of certain districts were provided with ways and means of im-proving the specific health situation in their particular district.Local visible improvements were not the result of political decisi-ons alone, but also depended on the daily efforts of the localpeople.

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In 1992, the Ghanaian doctor and epidemiologist Fred NewtonBinka was appointed director of the Navrongo Health ResearchCenter and greatly contributed to its success. Binka grew up inthe North of Ghana. He himself experienced first hand the de-structive power of tropical diseases such as malaria. With indefat -igable energy and confronted with all kinds of financial difficulties,he transformed the centre into one of the best known of its kindin Africa. The introduction of the Demographic Surveillance System,a database system into which relevant health information aboutthe district population was entered at regular intervals, was a mile - stone in this process.

“The research process obeys a very specific logic that is not easily understood by the local people. It was a huge challenge for

us to explain the concept of randomisation to the inhabitants of the rural Kassena-Nankana District.

The design of our research project with insecticide-treated bed nets stipulated that not everyone but only randomly chosen households

would receive such a net. However, everyone wanted to sleep under a mosquito net.”

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This systematic database made the Navrongo Health ResearchCenter under Binka an important pillar of INDEPTH (InternationalNetwork for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and theirHealth), a global network of research institutions in Africa andAsia, committed to the fight against malaria. Navrongo was notonly of importance to the international research community. Thecentre’s research findings collected in Kassena-Nankana and itsstrategies for solving various health problems have successfullybeen applied to other districts in Ghana and guide the Ministry ofHealth as it formulates and applies national health policy. For hiscontribution to reducing child mortality and preventing and con-trolling malaria, in particular, Fred Binka and the Navrongo HealthResearch Center became symbols of successful research activity,internationally and locally, and together kept alive the hope of afuture without malaria.

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Fred Newton Binka did his middle name great credit. At the end ofthe 1980s, Binka resigned a secure position in research at the Univer-sity of Ghana and offered his services as Head of Field Studies forthe vitamin A trial conducted by the Navrongo Health Research Centerin the rural Kassena-Nankana district.

Binka’s contact with the research centre marked the beginning of aremarkable international career. In 1992, Binka became director ofthe centre. At the same time, he established close ties with the SwissTropical Institute, which, in 1997, culminated in the award of a doc-torate from the University of Basel.

Diverse international groups of experts profited from Binka’s experi-ence and enthusiasm in the fight against tropical diseases. He wasmanaging director of the INDEPTH network and an influential voicein the World Health Organization’s ‘Roll Back Malaria’ programme.

His professional career:

Fred Newton BinkaCountry: Ghana

Born: 1953R.Geigy Foundation Award 2000

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Binka preferred work in his native Ghana to an international researchcareer in the US or Europe. In 2007, he became director of the Schoolof Public Health of the University of Ghana and vice-chancellor ofthe University of Ho, Ghana. Since then, he has devoted himself totraining young Ghanaian scientists, in order to provide them withthe intellectual and practical equipment necessary for fightingGhana’s health problems.

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Lea Knopf

The economy of the tick


2002

Lea Knopf (left) examining N’Dama cattle in Côte d’Ivoire

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N’Dama cattle are like savings accounts. They are dissolved tocope with the vicissitudes of life and meet the sudden need forcash to pay for weddings, burials or hospital treatment. The ani-mal’s great economic importance is derived from this function.For the farmers in the moist savannah of Côte d’Ivoire, the valueof the animals is thus measured more by their numbers than bytheir health. Previously, precise information about the animals’state of health was scarcely obtainable. The Ministry of Agricul-ture’s desire to increase cattle and milk production in the savannah,to supply the larger regional towns like Yamoussoukro or the me-tropolis of Abidjan with fresh milk, lent a certain urgency to see-king reliable animal health data and examining their potential.

In collaboration with the national ministries, local veterinariansand, above all, the local people, Lea Knopf was the first person toconcern herself with the health of N’Dama cattle in this region.Through her studies, Knopf established the high incidence of ticksand diseases that the cattle were capable of transmitting.

“Science describes the curiosity and willingness to become involved in the unknown, without losing

sight of the aim.”

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This was related to the high mortality of young animals and wasespecially serious in view of the fact that a calf was born onlyevery two or three years. She looked for selected diseases thatcould be transmitted to human beings via milk. In her research inV Baoulé, Lea Knopf pointed out simple and locally well-toleratedways of improving the animals’ health and consequently, people’slivelihoods.

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One of Knopf’s first important discoveries concerns the method:how could one measure the degree of tick infestation of the cattlewithout causing the half-wild animals needless suffering? In thecourse of her research, she determined that a certain place onthe neck could be used to assess the tick infestation of the wholeanimal. This gentle method has since become generally acceptedin the literature. A second important discovery concerns the fluc-tuations in the number of parasites and stages within one yeardue to climate. This knowledge of seasonal fluctuations in parasitedensity is important for applying physical and chemical methodsof control as selectively as possible when necessary. Knopf’s closecooperation with the people also included an ethical component,recognising that it is always essential to consider the localknowledge of animal health when developing selective methodsof control.

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“One important key issue of my research is less an issue than an underlying feeling of gratitude and hospitality

shown to me by the people of V Baoulé.

Our policy of communicating research findings to the cattle breeders at regular intervals has created the basis for this

confidence that I have since considered an indispensable element of all scientific cooperation.”

“Field research requires a great deal of creativity and spontaneity. I was impressed by the fact that good, sustainable results

can often be obtained with simple methods and in close cooperation with the people. Highly technological solutions

are not always needed.”

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Lea Knopf does not care for routine. After completing her doctoratein veterinary medicine in 2002, in cooperation with the Centre Suissede Recherches Scientifiques (CSRS, Côte d’Ivoire), the Swiss TropicalInstitute, the University of Berne and the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement(CIRAD, Burkina Faso), she engaged in diverse activities for improvingthe standard of global animal health. She assisted the Swiss TropicalInstitute in setting up a research network for zoonoses in West Africa;she developed molecular methods for studying parasites in the cellbiology laboratory of the University of Zurich and; as a postdoctoralcandidate at the Swiss Federal Office for Veterinary Affairs, she work -ed on developing risk-based surveillance systems of global animalepidemics. Knopf has most recently worked as an epidemiologist atthe World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in Paris. Today, sheworks as an independent veterinary epidemiologist and advisor tomany different organisations.

Her professional career:

Lea KnopfCountry: Switzerland


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Japhet Kihonda

A leading authority on mosquitoes


2004

Japhet Kihonda in front of the insectary of the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), Tanzania

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Where and under what conditions do malaria mosquitoes transmitmalaria? What species of mosquito are the most important? Howhigh is the transmission rate and is it affected by seasonal fluc-tuations? How does the transmission pattern change at certainplaces over time? Without a profound knowledge of mosquito behaviour, our know -ledge of malaria remains incomplete. Thus, answers to these andmany other questions are of central importance for successfulcontrol of the disease. The Kilombero District in rural Tanzania isprobably one of the best-studied malaria areas worldwide.

This is mainly due to Japhet Kihonda, a native Tanzanian, whosestudies on the behaviour of malaria mosquitoes laid the basis fora large number of publications. As the person responsible for theentomological field work of the present Ifakara Health Institute(IHI), Kihonda studied central questions of mosquitoes’ suscepti-bility to malaria or the seasonal transmission of disease from mos-quito to man. By perfecting tools such as mosquito traps, Kihondacontributed to protecting local people. His studies on mosquitobiology paved the way for successful malaria control programmessuch as the distribution of mosquito nets. We owe these successes not only to his profound knowledge ofmosquitoes, but also to his advanced laboratory techniques, whichhe developed into a fine art over the years. Kihonda is currentlyone of few people who can determine the age of Anopheles mos-quitoes from the size of their dissected ovarial pedicle.

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“To fight malaria successfully a thorough understanding of the Anopheles vector and its ecology is needed. The mosquitoes’ flexibility

and adaptability poses a great challenge to us every day.”

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Japhet Kihonda’s intimate knowledge of the biology of Anophelesmosquitoes is not the result of university training. He acquired itprac t ically during many years of field work.

Before his appointment to the team of entomologists of what wasthen the Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre (IHRDC),he earned his living catching fish in the Kilombero river. At the begin-ning of the 1990s, he was invited to join the IHRDC field researchteam as part of the Kilombero Malaria Project (KMP).

Kihonda soon felt attracted by science. Seemingly footloose, he wentfrom the field to the insectarium to the laboratory and back to thefield again, in spite of the heavy workload that awaited him at eachof these places. When he visited the research laboratories in Kisumu(Kenya), he was astonished to discover that five people were neededthere to do the same work that he tackled every day alone.

But it is not only his exemplary career as a researcher, but rather Ki-honda’s enthusiasm for a scientific field that attracts comparativelylittle attention that made him indispensable to the Ifakara Health Institute and to malaria research in Tanzania.


Japhet KihondaCountry: Tanzania


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2006

Clara Menéndez

Health for mother and child

Clara Menéndez treating patients at the Manhiça Health Research Centre in Mozambique

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In front of the entrance to the maternity hospital in Manhiça inMozambique, a queue has already formed in the early morning. Itconsists mainly of expectant women who have decided to takepart in a malaria research project. They have lined up with mixedfeelings of hope and fear.

In spite of intensive research and new technologies, malaria stilltakes its painful toll. In Africa, south of the Sahara, 800,000 peopledie of the disease each year. It affects mainly expectant mothersand children under the age of five. The rapid spread of HIV/AIDShas also aggravated the situation; an HIV infection predisposesone to infection with malaria and delays the healing process, sincethe different medicines may interact with each other.

The participants in the study pass through a short white corridorinto an examination room where Clara Menéndez welcomes themwith a broad smile. Together with her husband Pedro Alonso, shehas been seeking an effective malaria remedy for decades. An im-portant discovery emerging from her work is the fact that the highmortality of mothers and children during pregnancy is not dueprimarily to complications in childbirth, but rather because of last-

“Investing in institution-building and in the training of young scientists are investments in the future.

It enhances mutual trust and provides the basis for successful research partnership.”

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ing physiological damage resulting from severe episodes of dis -eases such as AIDS, malaria or bacterial infections. In other words,effective treatment of HIV/AIDS and systematic malaria preventionwould drastically lower the high mortality rate of mothers andchildren in Mozambique and elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa.“We possess a number of preventive measures for reducing theincidence of malaria during pregnancy”, Menéndez says. These include mosquito nets treated with insecticides as well as the preventive treatment with new medicines. The latter are urgentlyneeded, since the malaria pathogen is usually one step ahead ofresearch in building up resistance to existing drugs.

Menéndez’s research into malaria prevention and the treatmentof newborn children and infants and the relationship between ma-laria and anaemia have strongly influenced the health policy ofAfrican countries. Despite this considerable progress in interna-tional health, a great deal remains to be done until the crowds ofpatients waiting at the gates of African hospitals gradually sub-side.

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Clara Menéndez has played a leading role in malaria research foryears. The qualified doctor and epidemiologist is head of the pro-gramme for maternal and reproductive health at the Hospital Clinicin Barcelona.

Early on, her research activities took her to places where many peoplestill die of tropical diseases, such as the Gambia, Tanzania and Mo-zambique. Over the years, close cooperation evolved with the ManhiçaHealth Research Center in Mozambique, where Menéndez coordinatesa number of research projects on malaria and HIV/AIDS.Menéndez is a living example of how sustainable success in malariaresearch can only be achieved through research partnerships betweenAfrican and Western institutions.

She holds the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation(2008), is an advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) andheads research consortia oriented towards halting the further spreadof malaria.


Clara MenéndezCountry: Spain


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Alphonse Um Boock

The health of metropolises and a neglected epidemic


2008

Alphonse Um Boock during his fieldwork in West Africa

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Most people in the twenty-first century live in urban areas. Thisis as true in Africa as it is elsewhere. The population of ‘megacities’such as Lagos, Kinshasa or Johannesburg in the past few years hasgreatly increased due to an influx of people who associate life ina city with a secure existence and a settled future. New districtsgrew on the outskirts of the original urban areas long ago, stretch -ing social security systems to their limits.

The rapid urbanisation of African cities places high demands onthe public health system. While in the 1970s, Africa’s most acutehealth problems were seen as a rural phenomenon, it has recentlybecome accepted that city dwellers are exposed to double healthrisks: rampant infectious diseases are now compounded by life-style diseases, such as diabetes or cardiovascular disorders, whichimpose an additional burden on people.

In Nylon, an urban district on the fringe of the Cameroonian eco-nomic metropolis Douala, Alphonse Um Boock has developed newstrategies for improving the quality of health care. As a governmenthealth officer acting under the auspices of the Ministry of Healthand with financial support from the Swiss Agency for Developmentand Cooperation (SDC), health centres and a new district hospitalwere built. The hospital has the rare reputation of offering highmedical standards at affordable prices.

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The latter was made possible through the introduction of new fi-nancing mechanisms such as the health insurance ASIPES (Asso-ciation Islamique pour la Promotion de l’Éducation et de la Santé),which acquired over eight thousand members in a short time. It isstill uncertain how an insurance supported by the local peoplewill cope with increasing health costs, but it is clear that the pro-jects initiated by Alphonse Um Boock have resulted in improvedhealth for many in Nylon. Nylon has since become a point of refe-rence for urban health care and set new standards for improvingurban health care systems in countries where good health is still arare gift.

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Alphonse Um Boock’s research career was heavily influenced by Africancities and the diseases that so far had been taken too lightly. Tropicaldiseases are not only very different in terms of their causes and pro-gress, but the value attached to them by the international donorcommunity also differs. While some progress has been achieved inthe control of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in the past few years, other diseases have remained on the outskirts of public aware -ness. Every year, half a million people fall victim to neglected diseasessuch as leprosy or human African trypanosomiasis. These diseasesaffect the poorest segments of the population and it is for this reasonthat they are rarely the subject of comprehensive research and controlprogrammes.


Alphonse Um BoockCountry: Cameroon


“There is the tendency in science to focus on the major health risks such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV ⁄ AIDS only.

We have to be aware that it is the neglected diseases that most peoplesuffer from and which need increased attention.”

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Buruli ulcer is a good example of a disease that has fallen into neglect.Provoked by a relative of the leprosy and tuberculosis bacterium, itforms a small node on the skin of infected subjects. At first it looksso harmless that sufferers usually miss the chance to seek medicaltreatment. Waiting has fatal consequences. If untreated, the patho-gen weakens cellular immune resistance, damages tissue and leadsto deformities and loss of limbs. Often the only option the victimshave is expensive surgery that frequently exceeds the limits of themodest household budget.

Alphonse Um Boock has not only concentrated on urban health caresystems but has also committed himself to investigating and treatingBuruli ulcer. As the representative of Fairmed (formerly LeprahilfeEm maus Schweiz) and with cooperation from Swiss Tropical Institute,he undertook preliminary diagnostic studies on the spread of thedisease in Cameroon in 2001. A member of the Stop-Buruli Consortiumand WHO, Um Boock plays a leading role in researching the transmis-sion of the disease, its underlying economic and social conditionsand the development of new methods of diagnosis and treatment.

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Esther Schelling

One Health – Health for humans and animals


2010

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Does closer cooperation between veterinary and human medicinelead to improved health for people and animals? For the Americanveterinarian, Calvin Schwabe, the answer is unequivocal. The manydifferent relationships between human beings, animals and theirnatural environment require ‘one medicine’, which includes bothhuman beings and animals. Not only do animals transmit certaindiseases to human beings but, in the past, many symptoms couldbe studied in animals before they manifested themselves in humanbeings. A close relationship between ecology and health has be-come apparent to all those who, like Esther Schelling, look at thepopulation groups whose existence is closely linked to the naturalenvironment.

A large proportion of the cattle-breeding nomads in the CentralAfrican country of Chad are still excluded from the public healthsystem. What is more, the vaccination rate for animals is muchhigher than that for women and children. With her investigationsin West Africa, Esther Schelling has extended the concept of ‘onemedicine’ towards ‘one health’ and proved that an examination

“Research means listening carefully, asking questions and taking the people’s knowledge seriously.”

50

of the ecological, political and social dimensions of health canlead to appreciable improvements in African public health caresystems. Inoculation services for both people and animals — theessence of her research policy based on partnership — are notonly less costly, but lead to better acceptance of protective mea-sures by the affected families.

‘One health’ shows the added value of improved cooperation bet-ween the health, veterinary and environmental sectors, and isthus relevant beyond the African context. As part of a compre-hensive policy that does not consider health in isolation but inconnection with a broader ecosystem, ‘one health’ is capable ofmaking a sustainable contribution to improving public health.

51

“June 23, 2000 was a very sad day for one group of pastoralists in Chad: eleven of their animals could scarcely stand,

some of them suffered from bouts of fever, and the lymph nodes of others were clearly enlarged. After two days, the animals died.

In spite of the nomads’ good experience with animal inoculations such cases of anthrax were not a rare occurrence.

The pastoralists declared that they were unwilling to have their animals inoculated against anthrax, given the poor quality

of the anthrax vaccine.

An investigation by the Swiss Tropical Institute confirmed the nomads’ objections: the vaccine against anthrax

was then almost ineffective. With support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the quality of the vaccine

was improved and the local people’s confidence in the veterinary services was restored.”

52

“One fact that impressed me again and again during my work in Chadwas the strong position of the Swiss Tropical Institute

in dealing with the national health and veterinary authorities. The policy pursued by the Swiss Tropical Institute of investing both in the training of African scientists and in the creation of

national research institutions was a new experience for the authorities in Chad.”

53

The veterinary epidemiologist Esther Schelling once said, “The studyof the spread of infectious diseases and the conditions for bringingthem under control has always fascinated me.” Her doctoral thesison Newcastle disease, a viral disease affecting birds and poultry,which she completed at the University of Berne in 1998, was devotedmainly to epidemiological issues.

Four years later, Schelling was awarded a doctorate from the Univer-sity of Basel for a thesis in which she detailed the potential of inte-grating concepts of human and animal health for pastoralists inChad.

As a coordinator of the health programme of the National Centre ofCompetence in Research (NCCR North-South) and an employee ofthe International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya, she workedout with Southern partners some common strategies for improvingthe health situation in several African countries. Schelling is now aresearch group leader at Swiss TPH in Basel.


Esther SchellingCountry: Switzerland


54


2012

Manuel Hetzel

Malaria-Worlds

55

Seen from the air, the island world of Papua New Guinea (PNG)looks like a confusion of a main island and a number of smaller is-lands – as though randomly scattered into the blue of the PacificOcean. Only from close up can you gain a faint notion of the com-plex geography of this island landscape with its tropical coastalregions, savannas, swampy areas and inaccessible high valleys.This very varied topography corresponds to the complex dynamicsof malaria. Not only do differing species of the Anopheles mos-quito, the carrier of malaria, breed in PNG. This country is thehome of all malaria pathogens dangerous to man which have oc-cupied different ecological niches, depending on the natural envi-ronmental conditions. The coastal regions are the main terrain ofP. falciparum, the pathogen responsible for deadly tropical malaria;if you climb the mountains of the central highland, you enter theterritory of P. vivax, the pathogen responsible for tertian malariawhich easily enters the human bloodstream even at low tempera-tures. The dynamics of malaria in PNG are not only due to changingenvironmental conditions but are the outcome of a long historyof unsuccessful attempts to control the spread of the disease. Inthe 1960s PNG entered the focus of the World Health Organization(WHO). The ambitious goal of WHO was to eradicate malaria fromthe earth for good. This was to be accomplished with insecticidessuch as DDT that were sprayed by armies of trained teams to theinside walls of houses. After twenty years not much more of theprogramme was left than a general disillusionment. The risk of coming down with malaria in the 1980s was higher than before

56

the WHO campaign. The unsuccessful attempt to banish malariafrom PNG gave new prominence to other health priorities. Thewaning effectiveness of many malaria medicines and the politicalindependence of PNG with the resultant reduction in governmentexpenditure in all areas brought malaria control in PNG almost toa complete standstill between 1980 and 2005.

Only the new millen nium brought malaria research in PNG back toreality. A number of new instruments and technologies again gaverise to the hope of successful malaria control. In 2004 PNG hadapplied to the Global Fund for financial support in the struggleagainst malaria. The project financed by the Global Fund and carried out by the Ministry of Health provided for the distributionof mosquito nets to the entire population of PNG.

57

The scientist Manuel Hetzel from the Papua New Guinea Instituteof Medical Research (PNG IMR) for four years conducted the Na-tional Malaria Control Programme with over sixty staff and coordi-nated two national malaria surveys in this context, which in turnprovided answers to specific research questions. However, he wasnot afraid of personal deprivations and faced the difficult socialand epidemiological conditions of PNG.

His efforts were rewarded. The distribution of mosquito nets tothe people led to a 50% reduction of the infection rate from P. falciparum. In spite of these astonishing figures Manuel Hetzelremains modest: ‘We don’t yet quite know how the new pro-gramme will affect the malaria situation in the long term,’ he says.Particularly mosquitoes have repeatedly proved to be extremelyadaptable. There are some reports that they have already post -poned their blood meals and will start stinging again when no

“The four years I spent with medical research in PNG were not a complete success story but were marred by personal disasters.

Five of my friends and colleagues disappeared without trace during their field research.

In spite of these setbacks, however, it is essential not to lose sight of the goal, particularly when improvement

of the people’s health is at stake.”

one in PNG thinks of sleeping under a protective net. In spite ofthis uncertainty the reduction of this person-to-mosquito contactis a milestone in the history of malaria prevention in PNG. It willbe a great challenge to maintain this success, particularly in thelong term. For this further investments are necessary in the ex-pansion of the health system, the development of new medicinesand the training of local specialists, so that the latest successstory in malaria research in PNG does not suffer the same fate asthe last one.

58

“Something that repeatedly fascinates me in PNG is my acceptance by the local people as a western scientist.

The more you manage to put your own interests last, even under difficult conditions, in order to deal with the problems

of the country and its people, the greater their acceptance and gratitude.”

59

Manuel Hetzel’s professional career has repeatedly taken him to siteswhere traditional assumptions have been proved wrong and scientificwork calls for a high degree of creativity and improvisation.

Biology studies in Basel und Pelotas (Brazil); master’s thesis in epide-miology at the Swiss Tropical Institute on the relationship betweennutrition and diarrhoeal diseases in Mali (West Africa); doctoral thesisin cooperation with the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) in Tanzania inwhich he in the context of the access program tried to find strategiesfor improved access to the health care system by the local people.

After his doctoral thesis (2007) he transferred to the Papua New Gui-nea Institute of Medical Research (PNG IMR), where he had gained areputation with his work on malaria control. Since 2010 Manuel Hetzelhas worked at the PNG IMR and as a research fellow at the Universityof Queensland, Australia.


Manuel HetzelCountry: Switzerland / Germany


Manuel Hetzel

62

Frontispitz

63

Architektin der Wissenschaft: Die R. Geigy-Stiftung

Exemplary of the many researchers working in the field, we asked some of them to provide us with

a glimpse into their current work and their motivation.

Given its diversity, the work presented here was often the basis of a professional career and

supported by the R. Geigy Foundation.

64

About Research

65

“The success of health projects cannot be rated in figures. It is measured primarily by the acceptance expressed by the local people.

During my work on a national drinking water and latrine programme in Zimbabwe, my status rose from ‘catcher of souls’ to

‘father of a thousand children’. The reason for this changewas the creation of mutual trust and the reduction of cultural prejudices.

The R. Geigy Foundation enabled me to enjoy the privilege of the people’s hospitality in Zimbabwe and to combine

this special status as a guest with a specific research assignment.

This double experience even today is present in all of the work of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)

and is perceptible in the policy of not conducting research from the experts’ point of view, but on an

equal footing and together with the local people.”

Daniel Mäusezahl

Born: 1963Country: Switzerland

Present occupation: Research Group LeaderSwiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)

Field of research: EpidemiologySupported project: Measuring the Health Impact of Improved

Water Supplies and Sanitation Facilities in Rural Zimbabwe (1996)

Daniel Mäusezahl

Joanna Schellenberg

“I was attracted to medical research through an initial interest in development work and I wanted to work on issues that could be readily translated into public health action.

My PhD-study was on the impact of insecticide treated mosquito nets in Tanzania, carried out at a time when the only sustainable option was for local people to pay at least part of the cost of these nets.

The well-documented uptake of these nets and the resulting improvement in child survival convinced me of the

utility of malaria research in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Joanna Schellenberg

Born: 1962Country: Great Britain

Present occupation: Reader in Epidemiology and International Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Field of research: EpidemiologySupported project: Socially Marketed Treated Nets and Child Survival in Southern Tanzania (2001)

“Science for me means the search for pragmatic solutions to social problems.

Particularly in malaria research, new tools have been developed which may be the key to reducing the burden of disease

in Africa and elsewhere.”

Salim Abdulla

Born: 1964Country: Tanzania

Present occupation: Director of the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), Tanzania

Field of research: EpidemiologySupported project: Malaria Control Strategies

in the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania (2000)

Salim Abdulla

Susanna Hausmann-Muela

“Malaria cannot be reduced to purely biomedical explanatory models. If you look beyond your own cultural horizon, you become aware

of the widely differing interpretations of the causes and course of the disease and possible measures for controlling it.

The research sponsored by the R. Geigy Foundation into the local understanding of the disease in a rural region in Tanzania has

allowed me to share the life of a people suffering from malaria whose everyday life is not only troubled by health worries but has many

other aspects. The understanding of the social context has made me critical of many technologies praised as health care

innovations and [has] created the need to seek strategies together with the people that go beyond health concerns and

influence other aspects of life.”

Susanna Hausmann-Muela

Born: 1966Country: Switzerland

Present occupation: Independent Research Worker at Pass-International (www.pass-international.org)

Field of research: Medical anthropology Supported project: Community Understanding of Malaria and Treatment-Seeking Behaviour in a Holoendemic Area in Southeastern Tanzania (2000)

“The decoding of the hereditary information of the bilharziosis pathogenSchistosoma mansoni by an international research group in 2009 was an important step forward in control of the tropical disease

and provided new approaches to medical diagnosis. The research project sponsored by the R. Geigy Foundation,

‘Genomics Approach to the Selection of New Antigens for Serological Diagnosis of Helminth Infections’, was based on these findings

and attempts to define new antigens in helminthic diseases with the aid of bioinformatics. This allows a more exact diagnosis of

the diseases than was formerly the case.

The foundation thus invested in an innovative branch of research [that is] developing exponentially and gave new impulses

to diagnostics by the outpatients department of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH).

New test systems were hereby created that are now being developed for diagnostic laboratory routine.”

Ingrid Felger

Born: 1955Country: Germany/ Switzerland

Present occupation: Research Group LeaderSwiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)

Field of research: Molecular epidemiology and diagnosticsSupported project: Genomics Approach to the Selection of

New Antigens for Serological Diagnosis of Helminth Infections (2006)

Ingrid Felger

Hassan Mshinda

“Basic research in the areas of health and agriculture are especially important for low-income countries.

It is not at least due to my insistence that the Tanzanian government is now spending 1% of its gross domestic product (GDP)

on scientific research.”

Hassan Mshinda

Born: 1959Country: Tanzania

Present occupation: Director general of the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH)

Field of research: EpidemiologySupported project: The Challenge of Drug Resistance in Malaria: Studies in an Area of Intense Perennial Transmission, Kilombero District (2000)

“When accidents with poisonous animals occur, a few minutes often makes the difference between life and death.

An accurate knowledge of the source of the poisonous bite or poisonous sting is essential for specific treatment with antidotes.

Together with the medical doctor, Thomas Junghanss, I have published a comprehensive, interdisciplinary emergency handbook

about poisonous animals that is now available in English at no cost online. The compendium is conceived as a list of measures

that enables doctors to identify the source of the poison as quickly as possible by a process of exclusion and to

institute the necessary treatment.

In sponsoring the project, the R.Geigy Foundation has continued the tradition of toxinology at the Swiss Tropical Institute

that has now somewhat fallen into oblivion.”

Mauro Bodio

Born: 1961Country: Switzerland/ Italy

Present occupation: Independent Biologist

Field of research: Zoology, toxinologySupported project (together with Thomas Junghanss):

Notfall-Handbuch Gifttiere: Diagnose, Therapie, Biologie (1996)Venomous and Poisonous Animals, Biology & Clinical Management (2011)

(www.vapaguide.info)

Mauro Bodio

87

88

The R. Geigy Foundation in Numbers

Favourab

leRe

ntalCo

ntracts55

.4%

Instrumen

tsan

deq

uipm

ent1.2%

1.2%

Postdo

cs2.6%

Erem

itage-Fund

s

14.5%

Dissertations

2.4%

Research

othe

r

3.6%

Research

Libe

ria

7.2%

Research

Tanzania(Ifakara)

10.9%

Research

Switzerlan

d(Basel)

Furthe

red

ucation

1%

Mon

ey G

rant

ed fr

om 1

977

to 2

011

89

The Foundation’s Total Fund Amount

The Foundation’s total fund amount was 3.4 million (end of 2012).

Money Granted from 1977 to 2011

Between 1977 and 2011, the R. Geigy Foundation supported the SwissTropical and Public Health Institute (formerly the Swiss Tropical Insti-tute) with a total amount of CHF 15,993,630.

Research activities (mainly in Switzerland, Liberia and Tanzania) weresupported with CHF 3,849,343; doctoral research was funded withCHF 2,320,2285 while CHF 196,650 contributed to postdoctoral research. The Eremitage-Funds granted a total of CHF 419,600. CHF 8,867,272 were made available to provide infrastructure, CHF 199,436 to provide instruments, apparatuses and equipment and CHF 141,044 was spent on training.

90

The Foundation’s areas ofsupport changed consider -ably over time. While in earlier times the Foundationmainly supported researchand training in Basel and Liberia, Ifakara (Tanzania)became the Foundation’smain focus later on. Support to the Swiss TropicalInstitute’s infrastructure wasalso a major area of support,especially in the form offavour able rental contracts.Despite this inclination towards infrastructural support from the 1990s onwards, research grants always played a major part inthe Foundation’s philosophy.

1977

–198

1

1982

–198

6

1987

–199

1

CHF833,89

9

CHF65

6,312

CHF87

5,98

9

17.9

Dissertations

7.1

Postdo

cs17.0

Research

Tanzan

ia(Ifakara)

6.1

Research

Libe

ria

0.6

Research

othe

r29

.2Re

search

Switzerlan

d(Basel)

7.2

Favourab

leRe

ntalCo

ntracts

8.5

Instrumen

tsan

deq

uipm

ent

6.3

Furthe

red

ucation

78.7

Dissertations

1.6

Postdo

cs3.4

Research

Tanzan

ia(Ifakara)

6.0

Research

Switzerlan

d(Basel)

8.0

Instrumen

tsan

deq

uipm

ent

2.3

Furthe

red

ucation

4.8

Dissertations

0.6

Research

Tanzan

ia(Ifakara)

64.1

Research

Libe

ria

0.2

Research

othe

r16.3

Research

Switzerlan

d(Basel)

8.8

Instrumen

tsan

deq

uipm

ent

5.2

Furthe

red

ucation

Shares

asape

rcentage

91

1992–

1996

1997

–2001

2002

–2006

2007

–2011

CHF4,00

8,78

5

CHF3,82

2,73

3

CHF3,194,325

CHF2,60

1,58

8

CHF15

,993

,630

9.8

Dissertations

1.4

Postdo

cs30

.0Re

search

Switzerlan

d(Basel)

58.8

Favourab

leRe

ntalCo

ntracts

0.1

Furthe

red

ucation

9.7

Dissertations

2.1

Postdo

cs12.3

Research

Tanzan

ia(Ifakara)

0.7

Research

Switzerlan

d(Basel)

75.2

Favourab

leRe

ntalCo

ntracts

9.4

Dissertations

4.7

Erem

itage-Fund

s11.0

Research

Tanzania(Ifakara)

75.0

Favourab

leRe

ntalCo

ntracts

15.8

Dissertations

10.3

Erem

itage-Fund

s7.1

Research

Tanzan

ia(Ifakara)

14.4

Research

othe

r5.2

Research

Switzerlan

d(Basel)

45.9

Favourab

leRe

ntalCo

ntracts

1.2

Furthe

red

ucation

Shares

asape

rcentage

92

1977 Reto Gass Einfluss der Blutverdauung auf die EntwicklungSwitzerland von Plasmodium gallinaceum (Brumpt) im

Mitteldarm von Aedes aegypti (L.) (1977)

1980 Rolf Knechtli Verbreitung der Phlebotominae in der Südschweiz Switzerland und ihre potenzielle Rolle als Überträger von

Leishmanien (1987)

1981 Hanspeter Marti Population Dynamics and Ecology of Switzerland Bulinus globosus (Mollusca, Gastropoda) in

Selected Habitats in the Ifakara Area, Tanzania (1984)

Total amount from 1977 to 1981 39,751

1983 Stephan Biro Investigations on the Bionomics ofSwitzerland Anopheline Vectors in the Ifakara Area

(Kilombero District, Tanzania) (1987)

1984 Andreas Moser Untersuchung einer Population derSwitzerland Kreuzotter (Vipera berus L.)

mithilfe der Radiotelemetrie (1988)

Year

of G

rant

Nam

e an

d Co

untr

y

Titl

e of

Dis

sert

atio

n

Tota

l Am

ount

in C

HF

in F

ive-

Year

Incr

emen

ts

Supported Dissertations from1977 to 2011

93

1984 Luc Robyn Diagnostic Approach in Patients withSwitzerland Liver Diseases in Rural Tanzania (1986)

1985 Christian Individual and Community Diagnosis of Lengeler Urinary Schistosomiasis and Their Relevance forSwitzerland Disease Control. A Study in an Endemic Area of

Southeastern Tanzania (1989)

1985 Reto Suter The Plant Molluscicide Swartzia madagascariensis Switzerland and its Application in Transmission Control

Measures against Schistosoma haematobium. Experience from Kikwawila (Kilombero District, Tanzania) (1986)

1985 Annette Voruntersuchungen zum Befall der Hablützel Speicheldrüsen von Aedes aegypti durch Switzerland Plasmodium gallinaceum-Sporozoiten

(Diplomarbeit 1984)


1987 Edgar Lobos Immunochemical Analysis of OnchocercaGuatemala volvulus Antigens and Characterization of a

cDNA Clone Encoding a Low Molecular Weight Antigen (1988)

1987 Abraham Epidemiology and Control of Malaria TransmissionMnzava by Residual House Spraying with DDT andTanzania Lambdacyhalothrin in two Populations of the

Anopheles gambiae Complex in Tanga Region, Tanzania (1991)

1987 Felix Grimm Biological Aspects of Phlebotomus perniciosusSwitzerland in Southern Switzerland and the Development of

Leishmania infantum Metacyclic Forms (1991)

1989 Stefan Marti Biochemische und immunologische Switzerland Charakterisierung von Cuticlin, einem Struktur -

protein aus der Kutikula von Ascaris suum (1991)

1989 Sabine Baer The Biology of the East African Lunfish,Switzerland Protopterus amphibus Peters, in Regard to Its

Culture in Rainwater Ponds

94

1989 Peter Odermatt Comparative Investigations on the Population Switzerland Dynamics of Bulinus globosus (Morelet, 1866) and

Biomphalaria pfeifferi (Krauss, 1848) (Gastropoda; Planorbidae) with Special Regard to the Assessment of High-Risk Areas for the Transmission of Intestinal Schistosomiasis (1994)

1989 Mauro Bodio Notfall-Handbuch Gifttiere. Switzerland/Italy Diagnose, Therapie, Biologie (1996)with Thomas JunghanssGermany

1989 Klaus Bender Biochemical and Structural Aspects of the NuclearGermany Chromatin of Procyclic Trypanosoma Brucei brucei

(1991)

1990 Stefan Marti Biochemische und immunologische Switzerland Charakterisierung von Cuticlin, einem Struktur-

protein aus der Kutikula von Ascaris suum (1991)

1990 Daniel Measuring the Health Impact of Improved WaterMäusezahl Supplies and Sanitation Facilities in Rural Zimbabwe Switzerland (1996)

1991 Hamad Hadji Studies on Transmission and Transmission BlockingTanzania of P. falciparum Malaria to Anopheles gambiae

Species Complex and Anopheles festus in a Malaria Endemic Area in Tanzania

1991 Nicole Hurt Markers of Malaria Morbidity in Children Exposed Switzerland to Intense and Perennial Transmission in Tanzania.

Characterization and Validation of Indicators of Cell-Mediated Immune Responses (1994)


1993 Susanna Community Understanding of Malaria, Hausmann and Treatment-Seeking Behaviour, in a Switzerland Holoendemic Area in Southeastern Tanzania (2000)

1993 Franziska African Medicinal Plants Used in the Treatment Freiburghaus of Sleeping Sickness. An Evaluation (1996)Switzerland

95

1993 Ronald Degen Identification and Analysis of ‘PlasmodiumSwitzerland falciparum’ Genes Mediating Cytoadherence (1999)

1994 Fraziska Matthies Traditional Herbal Antimalarials – Their Role andGermany Their Effects in the Treatment of Malaria Patients

in Rural Tanzania (1998)

1995 Susanna Community Understanding of Malaria, Hausmann and Treatment-Seeking Behaviour, in a Switzerland Holoendemic Area in Southeastern Tanzania (2000)

1996 Jürg Utzinger Novel Approaches in the Control of Schistosomiasis. Switzerland From Rapid Identification to Chemoprophylaxis

(1999)


1997 Christian Auer Tuberculosis Control in Manila. Switzerland Comparing Two Treatment Approaches and

Enhancing Public Private Health Sector Collaboration (2003)

1998 Ivo Müller Application and Validation of New Approaches in Switzerland Spatial Analysis as Tools in Communicable Disease

Control, Health Systems and Environmental Epidemiology in Tropical Countries (2000)

1998 Denise Gender and Health Behaviours at Household LevelChevannes-Vogel with Respect to Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Jamaica The Case of an Urban Ghetto Community in Jamaica

(1999)

1998 Heide Stirnadel The Relative Contribution of Genetic andGermany Environmental Factors to Variation in Malaria

Immunity, Infection and Related Morbidity, in Areas Highly Endemic for Plasmodium falciparum (1999)

1998 Lea Knopf Rolle des Parasitismus in der N’Dama-Viehzucht in Switzerland der Feuchtsavanne der Côte d'Ivoire (2000)

1998 Frank Krönke Perception of Ill-Health in a Fulbe Pastoralist Germany Community and Its Implications on Health

Interventions in Chad (2001)

96

1999 Blaise Genton Baseline Studies of the Epidemiology and Immunity Switzerland of Malaria in Preparation for Malaria Vaccine Trials

in Papua New Guinea (1997)

1999 Joanna R. M. Socially Marketed Treated Nets and Child Survival Armstrong in Southern Tanzania (2001)SchellenbergGreat Britain

2000 Tanya J. The Health of Pregnant Women in Rural TanzaniaMarchant with Specific Emphasis on Anaemia and theGreat Britain Impact of Socially Marketed Insecticide Treated

Bednets (2002)

2000 Alexandre Overcoming Language Barriers to Health CareBischoff in Switzerland (2001)Switzerland


2003 Musawenkosi Describing Interventions and Modelling Mabaso Malaria Risk in Southern AfricaSouth Africa

2003 Marlies Craig The Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Malaria South Africa in Southern Africa

2005 Bianca Plüss Investigating the Benefits and Costs of an Switzerland Integrated Malaria Control Program in a Large

Oil Palm Plantation in Papua New Guinea

2005 Shr-Jie Wang Changing Malaria Epidemiology in Taiwan Urban Sub-Saharan Africa

2006 Ingrid Felger Genomics Approach to the Selection Germany of New Antigens for Serological Diagnosis of

Helminth Infections


97

2007 Khampheng Community Involvement in the Control Phongluxa of Food-Borne Trematodiasis in Lao PDRLaos

2008 Lukas Meier Striving for Excellence at the Margins. Switzerland Science, Decolonization, and the History of the

Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) in (Post-)Colonial Africa, 1943–2000

2009 Karin Gross Improving Access to Poor Women. Switzerland The Role of Institutions Regarding Women’s Acces

to Malaria and Maternal Health Services in the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania

2010 Sophie Oehring A Proteomic Approach to Identify and Characterise Switzerland Novel Nuclear Proteins in Plasmodium falciparum

2011 Verena Demografie und Gesundheit der Nomaden imJean-Richard TschadSwitzerland

2011 Nicole Bertschi Functional Exploration of Regulators ofSwitzerland Chromosome End Biology and Virulence Gene

Expression in Plasmodium falciparum


Total amount granted for dissertations from 1977 to 2011 2,320,285

98

1983 Hanspeter Marti Ifakara Project III (Interaction between Nutrition, Switzerland Infection, Immunity and Environment)

1984 David Jefferies The Trypanocidal Activity of SamorinGreat Britain

1986 Peter F. The Spatial Organisation of Digestion in the Billingsley Mosquito, Anopheles stephensiGreat Britain

1992 Zhao-Rong Lun Characterisation of T. evansi from ChinaChina

1994 Lukas Godelman Health Resources Allocation ModelSwitzerland

1998 Mark Booth The Relationship Between the Presence of Great Britain S. mansoni Eggs and Haemoglobin in

Stool Samples

1998 Mark Booth Development of the Attributable Risk Great Britain Calculator Program

Supported Postdoctoral Research and Grants from the Eremitage-Funds

1977 to 2011

Year

of G

rant

Nam

e an

d Co

untr

y

Titl

e of

Pro

ject

99

1998 Pierre-François Research in Schistosoma japonicumHumairSwitzerland

1999 Daniel MPH training at the University of CaliforniaMäusezahl in BerkeleySwitzerland

2000 Ivo Müller Mapping Malaria Risk in Papua New GuineaSwitzerland

2001 Sébastien Research Fellowship at Stanford University GagneuxSwitzerland

Total amount from 1983 to 2001 CHF 196,650

Grants to dissertations: Côte d’Ivoire, Mauretania, Chad

Support to the Employee-Funds: Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques (CSRS), Abidjan

Total amount from 2004 to 2011 CHF 419,600

Erem

itag

e-Fu

nds

100

2000 Fred N. Binka Ghana

2002 Lea Knopf Switzerland

2004 Japhet KihondaTanzania

2006 Clara Menéndez Spain

2008 Alphonse Um Boock Cameroon

2010 Esther Schelling Switzerland

The value of each prize awarded between 2000 and 2010 was CHF 5,000. Total amount CHF 30,000

Grants paid out to the R. Geigy Foundation Award 2000-2010

Year

of G

rant

Nam

e an

d Co

untr

y

101

102

103

104

Foundation Clinic Sonnenrain

In June 1969, the Foundation Clinic Sonnenrain was created with the aim of running the Sonnen -rain clinic as an organisation for research, treatment and hospitalisation on behalf of the Swiss Tropical Institute in Basel (now the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute). As the clinic was not fully exploited by the Swiss Tropical Institute, it was opened up to other patients in addition to those experiencing tropical diseases.

Rudolf Geigy Foundation

In December 1976, the Rudolf Geigy Foundation was created with the aim of supporting Swiss Tropical Institute (now Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute) research projects that could not be financed through the regular budget. Special emphasis is placed on the following institute activities:

– Field work, especially of young scientists, as well as the analysis and publication of the data

– Scientific collaboration of assistants from other universities and institutes or from Swiss TPH graduates

– Funding publications from Swiss TPH scientists or PhD students

– Special purchases for the institute’s library

– Special purchases of instruments and equipment

Foundation Sonnenrain

In February 1991 the Foundation Clinic Sonnenrainwas transformed into the Foundation Sonnenrain.Its new aim was to support the Swiss Tropical Institute through the provision of low-rent roomsand working spaces. In addition, the Foundation provided financial support for several projects following approval by the institute’s director.

The R. Geigy Foundation: Institutional Developments

1969

1976

1991

The R. Geigy Foundation: The Institution

105

R. Geigy Foundation

In 1998, the Foundation Sonnenrain and the Rudolf Geigy Foundation were merged into the R. Geigy Foundation. The foundation’s purpose is to support the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. It maintains and manages the properties under its ownership and makes them available to the institute on preferential conditions and on a non-profit basis. The R. Geigy Foundation uses its assets to support the institute’s projects, in particular:

– Research and teaching projects

– Publications by staff and doctoral candidates

– Purchases of books for the library and of instruments and apparatuses

Merger of the R. Geigy Foundation with the Jubilee Foundation of the Swiss Tropical Institute

On 1st January 2010, the R. Geigy Foundationmerged with the Jubilee Foundation of the Swiss Tropical Institute.

Jubilee Foundationof the Swiss Tropical Institute

December 1993 saw the creation of the Jubilee Foundation of the Swiss Tropical Institute. Its foremost aim was to search for financial means to finance the institute’s research projects. The intention was to sustain the four different funds:

– Malaria Funds

– Sahel Funds

– Slum Funds

– General Funds

1993

1998

2010

toda

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The Foundation Board2012

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Leo JenniFoundation board member, 1980–present

Former President of the Rudolf Geigy Foundation,1986–1989

Head of Programme, Man-Society-Environment(University of Basel), 1992–2003

Deputy Head of the Swiss Tropical Institute (STI),1987–1992

Jean-Marc Joerin President of the R. Geigy Foundation, 1989–1998Vice-President of the R. Geigy Foundation, 1998–present

Advocate, MBA

Marcel TannerPresident R. Geigy Foundation, 1998–present

Director of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), 1997–present

Nicolaus Lorenz Foundation board member, 2012

Deputy Head of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)

Head of the Swiss Centre for International Health (SCIH)

107

Jörg SchwarzenbachFoundation board member, 2003–present

Vice-chair of the Board of Governors of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), 2002–present

Member of the management and executive board of Credit Suisse, 1985–1999

Jürg Toffol Foundation board member, 1991–present

Architect, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich

Ulrich WasserSecretary R. Geigy Foundation, 1987–present

Head of Administration, Swiss Tropical Institute (STI), 1987–2009

Beat Berger Foundation board member, 2008–present

Estate agent

108

Hugo FreiFoundation board member, 1989–2008

Gerd PluschkeFoundation board member, 2008–2011

Head of Department, Medical Parasitology and Infection Biology (Swiss TPH)

Niklaus WeissFoundation board member, 1999–2003

Deputy Head of the Swiss Tropical Institute,(1997–2007)

Christoph HatzFoundation board member, 2003–2008

Head of Department, Medical Services and Diagnostics (Swiss TPH)

Stefan RyserFoundation board member, 1999–2003

Various managerial positions at Hoffmann-La Roche (1989–1997)

Founder of Bioptima Advisors, Los Altos and New York

Former Members of the Foundation’s Board

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Impressum

EditorR. Geigy Foundation,Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)

TextLukas Meier, Marcel Tanner

TranslationElisabeth O’Loughlin (Übersetzungsbüro Basel)

ProofreadingAmena Briët (Swiss TPH)

DesignMartina Ott

PhotographyThomas Schuppisser, Zurich

ImagesPage 17: Thierry A. FreyvogelPages 42, 44: Gerd PluschkeR. Geigy Foundation Award Winners: personal photos

PrintSchwabe AG, Muttenz,with Buchbinderei Burkhardt AG, Mönchaltorf

© 2012

Documents

R. Geigy Stiftung