Malaria 2012 Conference: Saving Lives in the Asia-Pacific

Containing drug resistance and accelerating progress to malaria elimination in Asia

31 October 2012 - In 2010, 30 million malaria cases were reported and 42,000 lives lost in the Asia-Pacific region, where malaria affects 20 countries. Although significant progress has been made towards controlling malaria in the region, issues such as the emergence of parasite resistance to artemisinin based combination drugs – currently the most effective treatment for malaria – threaten to halt and even reverse gains made to-date.

Malaria 2012 Conference: Saving lives in the Asia-Pacific aims to accelerate progress towards the global target of a 75 percent reduction in malaria cases and deaths in Asia and the Pacific by 2015. 

The conference, hosted by the Australian Agency for International Development, will focus on critical factors involved in controlling and eliminating malaria in region, including the monitoring and containment of artemisinin resistance, sustainable financing, political leadership and regional cooperation. 

Malaria Consortium Technical Director and Acting Executive Director, Dr Sylvia Meek, is attending the conference, which will coincide with the publication of a paper in the Lancet on artemisinin resistance co-authored by Dr Meek - Artemisinin-resistant malaria in the Asia-Pacific region.

Malaria Consortium and the Asia Pacific

Surveillance and support for the containment of artemisinin resistance in Asia is a primary focus of Malaria Consortium’s work in the region. As a key partner of the WHO-led containment project, completed in early 2012, Malaria Consortium provided technical support for data collection and the training of health workers in containment areas.

Our involvement in artemisinin resistance continues through Global Fund grants to Cambodia (Round 9) and Thailand (Round 10) – which Malaria Consortium helped develop. More recently, Malaria Consortium has become engaged in supporting the surveys for the Myanmar Artemisinin Resistance Containment (MARC) strategy.

Find out more about our work to control artemisinin resistance in the Greater Mekong sub-region, here.