While malaria remains a major public health and development challenge in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), tremendous progress has been made in scaling up both preventative and curative interventions with resulting improvement in morbidity and mortality.
The GMS, including Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan Province in China, was burdened with about 316,000 confirmed cases of malaria and 2,000 malaria deaths in 2007, although the numbers are likely much higher because of remaining poor detection and reporting in underserved areas / populations where the disease is most likely to occur.
Malaria control and elimination in the subregion faces many challenges unique from the larger global context. The epicenters that first provided the world with chloroquine, sulfadoxine?pyrimethamine, and mefloquine resistance at the Thai Cambodian borders are now demonstrating resistance to artemisinins.
The emergence of these resistant strains poses a major threat to the region and beyond and will likely increase without concerted targeted interventions. The challenges of drug resistance, substandard and counterfeit drugs, hard to reach vulnerable groups with low coverage of malaria interventions, difficulties in accessing basic health services by migrant workers and ethnic minorities, need for cross?border initiatives, and weak surveillance and monitoring and evaluation systems face many of the Mekong countries.
Contents
MMP Core Partners
Acronyms
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
- Vision
Goal
Modus Operandi
BACKGROUND
- Brief Historical Background
Burden of Malaria in the Global Context
Burden of Malaria in the Greater Mekong Subregion: Trends and Current Status
SEARO
WPRO
USAID
MEKONG MALARIA PROGRAMME STRATEGY
MALARIA?SPECIFIC STRATEGIES
- 1. Policy and Program Management
2. Prevention Interventions
3. Strengthening IEC/BCC interventions
4. Early diagnosis and prompt effective treatment of cases
5. Vulnerable Populations
6. Strategic Information
SYSTEMS STRENGTHENING STRATEGIES
- 1. Regional cooperation
2. Public?Private Partnerships
3. Engaging other Programs and Sectors
ON TRACK TO THE TARGET
- 1. Elimination
ANNEX I
ANNEX II
ANNEX III
ANNEX IV
REFERENCES
