Gregory Lanzaro, coordinator

The event will take place in MU II (second floor) and is free and open to the public.

It's being held "to increase awareness among the general public about malaria, one of the world's oldest and deadliest diseases, as well as vector-borne problems at home in California," said medical entomologist Gregory Lanzaro, professor in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Malaria "is a leading cause of death and disease in many developing countries, where young children and pregnant women are the groups most affected," the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) points out, citing these figures from the World Health Organization's World Malaria Report 2013 and the Global Malaria Action Plan:

• 3.4 billion people (half the world's population) live in areas at risk of malaria transmission in 106 countries and territories
• In 2012, malaria caused an estimated 207 million clinical episodes, and 627,000 deaths. An estimated 91% of deaths in 2010 were in the African Region.

The most vulnerable groups, CDC says, are young children, who have not yet developed partial immunity to malaria; pregnant woman, whose immunity is decreased by pregnancy, especially during the first and second pregnancies; and travelers or migrants coming from areas with little or no malaria transmission, who lack immunity.

The schedule for the UC Davis Malaria Awareness Day:

• 10 to 10:30 am.: Coffee/social/posters
  
  
• 10:30 to 10:50: "General Malaria Biology" by medical entomologist Gregory Lanzaro, professor, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
  
  
• 10:50 to 11:20: Conducting Field Research in Rural Africa" by medical entomologist Anthony Cornel, associate professor,  UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and based at the UC Kearney Agriculture and Research Center, Parlier
  
  
• 11:10 to 11:30: "Malaria Parasites in the Mosquito" by molecular biologist Shirley Luckhart, professor, UC Davis Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and an adjunct professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology
  
  
• 11:30 to 11:50: "Mosquito-Borne Viral Diseases" by medical entomologist Chris Barker, assistant adjunct professor and assistant research scientist, UC Davis Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology
  
  
• 11:50 to 12:10: "Disease Transmission by Non-Mosquito Vectors" by epidemiologist/veterinarian and disease ecologist Janet Foley, professor, UC Davis Department of Medicine and Epidemiology
  
  
• 12:10 to 1:30: A free lunch will be provided, but reservations must be made by April 21 to Youki Kevin Yamasaki at ykyamasaki@ucdavis.edu.