Asia Pacific Leaders push towards malaria-free region by 2030

Asia Pacific leaders have taken a concrete step closer to defeating malaria by endorsing a detailed plan to eliminate the disease throughout the region by 2030. The APLMA Malaria Elimination Roadmap was endorsed yesterday by the 18 East Asia Summit (EAS) Leaders during the 10th anniversary summit, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The inclusion of malaria among EAS Leaders’ discussions on regional security and stability, territorial disputes and economic partnership indicates the importance regional Leaders assign to tackling the disease.

“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,” said Dr Nafsiah Mboi, Envoy of the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA). “Having halved deaths from malaria in just 15 years, the failure of the most effective antimalarial drugs in the Greater Mekong Subregion threatens much of that hard-won progress.”

Asia Pacific malaria elimination decreases the impact of the disease for over half the world’s population – and it also removes the threat of emerging drug-resistant malaria for the other half.

The new APLMA Roadmap presents six essential actions that leaders can support to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination. The plan was developed in close consultation with leaders and national malaria programmes throughout Asia Pacific, and with the help of technical experts from the Asian Development Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO) and many other partner organizations. If fully implemented between now and 2030, the plan will save more than a million lives and deliver US$ 300 billion in economic benefits.

“We commend the foresight of our leaders in making this crucial commitment to eliminating malaria,” added Dr Mboi.

An extract from the Chairman's Statement of the 10th East Asia Summit, 22 November 2015:

8. Reaffirming our commitment to the goal of an Asia Pacific free of malaria by 2030, we endorsed the Asia Pacific Leaders’ Malaria Elimination Roadmap as a framework for shared action. We are committed to the Roadmap’s six priority areas and called for a rapid and sustained scale-up effort in the Mekong region to prevent the spread of drug-resistant malaria.

Read the full Statement here

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Click here or on the image to view full Roadmap

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