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· H.E. Dr Tandi Dorji, Hon'ble Minister of ForeignAffairs of Bhutan addressed Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Leaders Dialogue
· H.E. Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’ble Minister ofHealth and Family Welfare announced India will host Asia Pacific Leaders MalariaAlliance 2022 Senior Officials Meeting for Malaria Elimination
· New report shows resilience of Asia Pacificcountries to continue malaria service delivery despite COVID-19
Singapore, 13 Dec 2021 – On behalf of the Prime Minister ofBhutan, the 2021 Asia Pacific Leaders Dialogue for Malaria Elimination wasopened today by H.E. Dr Tandi Dorji, Hon'ble Minister of Foreign Affairs, with an appeal to galvanize action towards ending malaria,the world’s oldest pandemic. At the 13th December 2021 virtualgathering hosted by the Ministry of Health Bhutan, Asia Pacific LeadersMalaria Alliance (APLMA) and Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN), seniorgovernment officials from across the region recommitted to accelerate the fight against the devastating diseasein a time marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With less than a decade left to reachthe 2030 elimination goal as pledged by Asia Pacific Heads of Government at the9th East Asia Summit, the Hon’ble Minister of Foreign Affairs urgedcountries to step up the fight against malaria through political leadership and regional collaboration.
“Bhutan is extremelyproud to host this year’s Asia Pacific Leaders Dialogue. Achieving the aspirations of the 22Heads of Government committed to a malaria-free region takes an extraordinaryeffort. Upholding leadership commitment is critical as is sharing of technicalexpertise, best practices, and data. Today is a powerful demonstration thatmomentum is on our side. Tackling borderless issues like malaria eliminationand COVID-19 requires an all-hands on deck approach to end this disease onceand for all,” said H.E. Dr Tandi Dorji, Hon'ble Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“Despite the ongoing global pandemic,we must not lose sight of accelerating progress towards malaria elimination – apreventable and treatable disease which has been eliminated by 40 countries worldwide.This Leaders Dialogue signals high-level political action needed to protect theregion from malaria and future health crises,” said H.E. Dasho Dechen Wangmo,Hon’ble Minister of Health Bhutan.
Border regions continue to be one ofthe most challenging areas to eliminate malaria. India’s Hon’ble Minister ofHealth and Family Welfare highlighted the importance of cross-bordercollaboration, encouraging national leaders and sub-national officials to worktogether across borders and sectors.
H.E. Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’bleMinister of Health and Family Welfare also added, “It is my honour to announcethat India will host the 2022 Senior Officials Meeting for Malaria Eliminationfor the first time in its history. The meeting will coincide with the year ofour nation’s 75th year of Independence.”
The event gathered high levelrepresentation from the region, including Hon’ble Mrs. Pauline McNeil,Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Solomon Islands, H.E.Dr. Sophon Mekthon, Hon’ble Vice Minister of Public Health Thailand, H.E.Senator the Hon’ble Zed Seselja, Australian Minister for InternationalDevelopment and the Pacific and Dr Pandup Tshering, Hon’ble Health Secretary, Bhutan.Representatives of Asia Pacific national malaria programs were also presenttogether with Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-EastAsia and Dr Takeshi Kasai, WHO Regional Director for Western Pacific, Directorof the WHO Global Malaria Programme (GMP), DrAbdourahmane Diallo, CEOof RBM Partnership to End Malaria, and representatives ofthe Global Fund, Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security, and other keyinternational and regional global health organisations, donor agencies andcivil society organizations.
“We are grateful to His Excellency Dr.Lotay Tshering, Hon’ble Prime Minister and His Excellency Dr Tandi Dorji, Hon'ble Minister of ForeignAffairs for their collaborative spirit in the effort to eliminate malaria acrossthe Region,” said Dr Sarthak Das, CEO of APLMA. “The Royal Government of Bhutanserves as a global model of how political leadership coupled with the power ofcollaboration across sectors yield remarkable progress towards malariaelimination. At the same time, as COVID-19 teaches us on a daily basis, we mustcollaborate not only across sectors but across borders to achieve an AsiaPacific free from malaria by 2030. And in that spirit, we are grateful toIndia’s commitment to host the Asia Pacific Leaders Alliance 2022 SeniorOfficials Meeting; next year’s convening will further galvanize our collectivemarch towards elimination and will coincide with India’s 75thanniversary of Independence.”
To conclude the Leaders Dialogue, theCo-Chairs endorsed a Call to Action statement that highlighted three keyactions to achieve malaria elimination: (1) Adopt a Whole of GovernmentApproach by establishing/re-invigorating Inter-ministerial Task Forces toaddress cross-sectoral challenges to malaria elimination; (2) Develop joint cross-borderelimination plans to ensure effective implementation of harmonised activitiesat ground level and (3) Ensure sustained funding for malaria service deliveryand establish synergy with broader health systems funding to createprogrammatic efficiency.
“As the world progressively respondsand learns the lessons from the test of resilience we have endured during thepandemic, driving key actions towards malaria elimination is a pre-requisite tostrengthen overall health systems capable of defeating both existing healththreats like malaria and emerging new ones like COVID-19,” said Drew McCracken,APLMA Senior Director, Government Affairs and Policy. “Now is the time toincrease regional leadership and resources needed to protect the gains we have madeagainst malaria over the last two decades, address remaining high-burden areas,and mitigate the long-term impact of COVID-19 on malaria, to eventually defeatit, as outlined in our new report*.”
There is no room for complacency in theroad to malaria elimination – over two billion people in Asia Pacific continueto remain at risk of malaria. APLMA and APMEN stand committed to support AsiaPacific’s pursuit to be malaria-free by 2030, and to support the region’s mostvulnerable by mobilizing innovations and tailored solutions across communitiesand countries.
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Notes to editors
The2021 Asia Pacific Leaders Dialogue for Malaria Elimination full speaker listcan be found here.
*Reportcited “MalariaElimination Amidst COVID-19: A Test of Resilience in AsiaPacific”. More information available at: https://www.aplma.org/malaria-and-covid-19-pandemic
For more information and mediaenquiries:
Tashi Tshering – Ministry of HealthBhutan
DimpleNatali – APLMA
JaniceApilado – APLMA
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