0 Malaria successfully controlled in Asia Pacific

While countries in the Asia-Pacific region are demonstrating major progress in controlling malaria, the region is facing cases of drug resistance that could place the progress at risk. During the fifth annual meeting of the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) held in Jimbaran, experts acknowledged the great strides the region had made in reducing the risk of malaria, which remained a substantial threat to its continued economic growth and development. 

According to data from the World Malaria Report 2011 issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), there was a 64 percent decline in the number of malaria cases in the 14 APMEN member countries between 2000 to 2010. Total cases of malaria in APMEN countries amounted to 1,272,139 in 2000, declining to 455,479 cases in 2010. The 14 countries in this region are Indonesia, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, North Korea, Solomon Islands, Srilanka, Thailand, Vanuatu and Vietnam. 

“The 14 APMEN countries have made outstanding progress in the fight against malaria. They’re committed to eliminating malaria in the next few years with their effective programs,” said the meeting co-chairman Richard Feachem, who is also director of Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco. Richard Cibulskis, a WHO official in the global malaria program, said that there had been tremendous progress globally in the fight against malaria, thanks to increased financing from endemic countries themselves and from international donors. 

“In 2011, US$2.3 billion was available for malaria control, a substantial amount of funding that enabled the expansion of malaria control programs, including for diagnosis and proper treatments,” he said. He also lauded the success of the Asia Pacific in malaria control, saying 13 out of the 14 APMEN countries had reduced malaria by 75 percent, and four of them (Srilanka, South Korea, Bhutan and Malaysia) were very close to elimination. “This region has shown what can be done in many aspects to control malaria and will be a living example to other countries around the world. 

WHO will work together with APMEN countries and other institutions to learn from the best practices.” “We’ve seen tremendous progress. But this progress is fragile. If we don’t sustain it, malaria will come back very rapidly,” he warned. However, the region’s success could be threatened by the spread of antimalarial drug resistance from some of the regions’ countries. Feachem said there was evidence of resistance shown by one malaria parasite (Plasmodium falciparum) to the most commonly used drug, Artemisinin. 

“Countries where resistance has been detected are Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. This drug resistance is a challenge and a threat to the region and to the world because it is carried and transferred, and can spread all the way to Africa,” he said. “There is a risk that the resistance will spread, in which case we will need new malaria drugs.” Some new drugs are now in the research and development pipeline, which are expected to reduce the resistance if it continues to grow. “We hope the efforts to contain and eliminate the drug-resistant parasites will be successful, so that the resistance will not spread and will eventually be eliminated.”

source : bali daily