Asia Pacific leaders move towards eliminating

Malaria by 2030

FILE - In this Aug. 26, 2009 photo, patients suffering from malaria lie on the beds as they are treated at a
hospital in Pailin, Cambodia. More than a third of the malaria-fighting drugs tested over the past decade in
Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were either fake or bad quality, seriously undermining efforts to
combat the disease, a study said Tuesday, May 22, 2012. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File)

by Daniel Maxwell -30th November 2015

AT the recent East Asia Summit (EAS) in Malaysia, Asia Pacific leaders
took an important step towards ridding the region of a disease which
threatens more than two billion people and kills nearly 50,000 people
annually, with the endorsement of a detailed plan to eliminate malaria in

the Asia Pacific region by 2030.

The APLMA Malaria Elimination Roadmap, which has been developed
through extensive consultation with experts from across the region,
aligns with global malaria strategies such as; the WHO Global Technical
Strategy for Malaria 20162030, the RBM Action and Investment to
Defeat Malaria, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
The elimination roadmap identifies six priorities, which Asia Pacific
leaders are now committed to supporting, to eradicate malaria
throughout the region by 2030. The six priorities are; 1) unite national
efforts and regional actions, 2) map, prevent, test and treat the disease
everywhere, 3) ensure high quality malaria services, tests, medicines,
nets and insecticides, 4) improve targeting and efficiency to maximize
impact, 5) mobilize domestic financing and leverage external support,
and 6) innovate for elimination.

Follow
APLMA @APLMA_Malaria
Find out more about the 6 priorities to #DefeatMalaria in Asia Pacific here:
hbit.ly/MFAP2030roadmap #MFAP2030
t9:37 AM - 24 Nov 2015
t
p
:
/
/

 3
l
Malaria
has proven to be an extremely robust disease and in regions
i

where
k the disease was thought to have been contained there is a history
e

of resurgence
after funding and resources are scaled back. There is now
s
a consensus between malaria experts that the battle against the deadly
disease must focus on elimination rather containment. The urgency with
which this is now sought has increased following the detection, in the
Greater Mekong sub-region, of a new strain with resistance to the most
common first-line treatment of malaria, artemisinin-based combination
therapies (ACTs).
Artemisinin was first discovered as a treatment for malaria by this years
Nobel Prize winner Dr Tu Youyou during the 1960s. ACTs are currently the
most widely used treatment for malaria and the spread of artemisininresistant malaria is a global health threat. Resistance to chloroquine, the
previous first-line malaria treatment, was also first discovered in the
Greater Mekong Sub-region. When chloroquine-resistant malaria spread
into Africa during the 1980s, it contributed to an 80% increase in child
mortality from the mosquito-borne disease. The spread of artemisininresistant malaria from the Mekong region to sub-Saharan Africa would be
equally catastrophic, as Dr Nafsiah Mboi explains:
Asia Pacific is facing a silent malaria emergency one that could have a

disastrous impact on the region as a whole, as well as on global health

security,
Having halved deaths from malaria in just 15 years, the failure of the
most effective antimalarial drugs in the Greater Mekong Sub region
threatens much of that hard-won progress.
The indicative cost of eliminating malaria in the Asia Pacific region has

been calculated by the APLMA Secretariat at just over US$1 billion per
year during the first five years. In subsequent phases the costs have
been estimated at just under US$2 billion per year. Financing this will be
a challenge that requires a genuine commitment from Asia Pacific
leaders but the costs of inaction are far higher. Malaria elimination is
both a humanitarian and an economic investment which according to
APLMA will, strengthen regional economic prosperity by saving more
than a million lives and creating cost savings and social benefits of
almost US$300 billion.
Furthermore, failure to act now could allow the spread of artemisininresistant malaria to undermine the global investment of US$41 billion
which has been made towards reducing malaria since 2000 and destroy
the enormous gains made during the past decade. The investment
required to eliminate malaria in the Mekong in the short term is far
outweighed by the positive long-term impact.

Follow
APLMA @APLMA_Malaria
Estimates project that regional #malaria elimination will cost ~US$1B/year in 1st 5-

years hbit.ly/1NwcniI
t - 27 Nov 2015
9:04 AM
t

p
:
1
1
/
11R /
e
lt
The APLMA
Malaria Elimination Roadmap proposes the development of
iw
innovative
financing to meet the necessary costs. Suggestions for Asia
ke
e
Pacifice leaders to consider include; introducing and expanding
t

hypothecated taxes (such as alcohol, tobacco taxes, tourism and airline

levies), leveraging national lotteries and earmarked financing for
elimination, investigating ways to increase private sector involvement in
malaria elimination, consider expanding debt financing mechanisms
such as malaria bonds.
In recent months there have been highly encouraging developments in
the fight against malaria, with the elimination targets included in the
Sustainable Development Goals, and now the elimination roadmap
endorsed by leaders across the Asia Pacific region. The next step is the
elimination of artemisinin-resistant malaria in the Mekong region and
then full commitment to ridding the entire Asia Pacific region of this
deadly disease. Malaria elimination will save countless lives and greatly
improve living conditions throughout the region, and it must remain a
priority until its ultimate achievement.
Posted by Thavam