Malaria Consortium seals partnership with Myanmar Government

Malaria Consortium has officially signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Public Health and Ministry of Health and Sports Myanmar, paving the way for future collaboration and project implementation.

The agreement is significant as it widens the scope of work Malaria Consortium can conduct and further strengthens our special relationship with the Myanmar Government.

In addition to working with the National Malaria Control Programme, the memorandum allows Malaria Consortium to work closely with the Departments of Child Health, Nutrition, Maternal Health, Health Emergencies and Disasters, across all of Myanmar.

This will allow Malaria Consortium to implement programmes related to disease control, maternal, new-born and child health, health emergencies, health system strengthening and research. Most significantly it will allow us to continue to work with the Government to implement integrated community case management (iCCM) programmes - a proven community level intervention to reduce malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea and malnutrition, which we have been successfully piloting in the Sagaing Region.

“This memorandum is a great honour,” said Malaria Consortium Asia Director Siddhi Aryal. “It means we can continue to support the Republic of the Union of Myanmar in the areas of surveillance, operational research, quality system service delivery, policy, and health emergencies while broadening the scope of engagement in supporting the expanding health systems in the country.”

“We believe that the partnership with Ministry of Health and Sports will enable us to achieve targets set in the 2017-2021 National Health Plan,” added Malaria Consortium Country Director Sharon Thangadurai. “This memorandum will enable us to strengthen health systems across the entire country. This will not only reduce malaria, but also pneumonia, diarrhoea and malnutrition, which collectively account for the majority of deaths of children under five in Myanmar.”

The ceremony was held in the Ministry Hall, Department of Public Health, Nay Pyi Taw, and attended by directors from the Ministry of Health and Sports and other officials from the Department of Public Health.

Country: Myanmar