On 3 to 4 June 2026, researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders gathered at the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), Medan, for the ZOOMAL Project Review Meeting. ZOOMAL is a collaborative research project involving EHI, USU, Menzies School of Health Research (MSHR), and Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). This project aims to evaluate zoonotic malaria transmission and its relationship with agricultural land usage in Indonesia through a multidisciplinary One Health approach.
Through this end-of-project meeting, investigators in this project presented key findings from six major research objectives, including the development of molecular and serological tools for Plasmodium knowlesi diagnosis, geospatial risk mapping, mosquito surveillance, primate surveillance, One Health policy management, and land-use analysis. Discussions highlighted how these research aims have widened zoonotic malaria surveillance and strengthened laboratory capacity and collaborations across Indonesia. Furthermore, ACIAR concluded the meeting by evaluating the future directions for the collaborative project. Overall, ZOOMAL has established an important Indonesia-led One Health evidence base for understanding zoonotic malaria and is expected to support the strengthening of national P. knowlesi surveillance and future wildlife-based disease monitoring initiatives. EHI believes that the ZOOMAL project can serve as a strong foundation for One Health action in Indonesia to improve surveillance systems and address zoonotic malaria.
