Articles
Articles on Malaria Observer explain and provide context for the datasets featured on this site, and explore topics relevant to malaria research more broadly. New articles are added as new datasets are published, existing ones are updated, or there's an important story to tell.
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Understanding Pf7
Malaria is caused by a parasite, not a virus or bacterium — a single-celled organism called Plasmodium, carried from person to person by mosquitoes. Of the species that infect humans, Plasmodium falciparum causes the most severe disease and the majority of malaria deaths worldwide. Understanding how this parasite changes over time and place is central to controlling it.
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Understanding Pf8
In 2025, MalariaGEN released Pf8 — the latest and largest instalment in an ongoing series of open datasets tracking the genetic makeup of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for the most severe form of malaria. If you haven't already, our companion article, Understanding the Pf7 dataset, covers the basics of what these datasets are and why they matter; this article picks up the story with Pf8.