NEWS: SEARO Meeting on Malaria

Nov 2nd, 2009

Bangkok, 2 November 2009: Last week, the World Health Organisation Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO) convened a Regional Consultation on Integrated Approach to Malaria Control in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Malaria Consortium, which has offices in Thailand and Cambodia, attended the meeting.

The objectives of the meeting were:

• to review achievements and challenges in implementation of the Revised Malaria Control Strategy of the South-East Asia Region (SEAR) for 2006-2010;
• to review effectiveness of contributions of partners/donors on malaria in the member countries;
• to identify specific interventions/activities using integrated approaches for malaria control in SEAR; and
• to identify a mechanism to strengthen the partnership and networking for malaria control programmes in SEAR. 

The consultation brought together more than 70 participants from the national programmes of Bangladesh, Bhutan, DPR Korea, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste. Other participants came from other line ministries and partners including the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, ACT Malaria, Asia-Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) and Malaria Consortium. 

David Sintasath, regional epidemiologist for Malaria Consortium, said that one of the important outcomes of this consultation was the realisation that many national programmes in SEAR have established good relationships with other sectors, such as Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Education, as evidenced by their active participation in this meeting. 

“The role of partners and donors in continued engagement and dialogue with national programmes towards reaching the goals of the Global Malaria Action Plan was also emphasised during a panel discussion with AUSAID, APMEN, ACT Malaria, with Malaria Consortium representing the international NGO sector,” said Dr Sintasath.

Following the meeting, a field visit to one of Sri Lanka’s Integrated Pest and Vector Management (IPVM) sites in Embilipitiya was organised for participants to observe activities in a Farmer Field School project where farmer-to-farmer trainings in IPVM are conducted and empowering local communities. 

For more information, please contact Diana Thomas d.thomas@malariaconsortium.org