Focused Efforts for Malaria-free APAC
According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) most recent World Malaria Report 2021, there were 241 million malaria cases and 627,000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2020. This equates to approximately 14 million more cases in 2020 compared to
2019, as well as 69,000 more deaths. During the pandemic, approximately two-thirds of these additional deaths (47,000) were attributed to disruptions in malaria prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
Despite the pandemic’s disruptions, the
Asia Pacific region demonstrated remarkable resilience. Over the last decade, Asia Pacific countries have more than halved the number of annual malaria cases and moved closer to eliminating the disease. However, as the pandemic spread across the region in early
2020, countries were quickly confronted with unprecedented challenges.
But, challenges like humanitarian crises that erupted, such as those in Myanmar and Afghanistan, exacerbated these burdens.
However, when comparing experiences from across the region during the pandemic, three core areas of remarkable resilience emerge: strong leadership commitment, timely adaptation of malaria interventions, and successful integration of COVID-19 and malaria responses.
Nonetheless, while most countries were able to pivot their strategies and make timely adjustments, a few countries in the region experienced an increase in malaria cases due to competing priorities and insufficient resources. Malaria cases in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, for example, increased by 7 per cent and 16 per cent in 2020, respectively, compared to 2019.
According to the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) report 2021, China managed to attain malaria-free status in June 2021. Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cambodia, DPRK, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Nepal, the Republic of Korea, Timor Leste, Vanuatu and Vietnam all reported zero indigenous malaria deaths in 2020. Many of these countries also exceeded the WHO’s Global Technical Strategy (GTS) targets of reducing malaria cases and deaths by at least 40 per cent by 2020. Even
India, one of the region’s highest-burden countries, reported a drop of close to 45 per cent, from 338,494 in 2019 to 186,532 in 2020.
Dr Sarthak Das, Chief Executive Officer, APLMA pointed out “We must continually remind ourselves that malaria has been eliminated from 40 countries in the world, many with fewer tools and interventions than we have available today. Malaria elimination by 2030 in Asia
Pacific is still within reach provided we sustain political commitment to malaria elimination at the highest levels. In addition, we must make sure programmes (and the funding that support them) remain agile in adapting and integrating responses to evolving threats while fighting malaria.”
The complexity of malaria epidemiology across the Asia Pacific presents a challenge for elimination. Achieving malaria elimination in the Asia Pacific will depend on strong political leadership, renewed investment in research and development, and targeted approaches tailored to specific areas and populations. Maintaining, and indeed strengthening, efforts to fight malaria in the context of a public health landscape vastly altered by COVID-19 will be challenging, but critical for achieving elimination goals.
According to a Burnet Institute report, the annual investment in malaria research and development (R&D) is slightly more than $600 million, with slightly more than 20 per cent invested in vaccines. In comparison, more than $9 billion has been invested in COVID-19 R&D since January 1, 2020, with more than half of that going toward vaccines. The massive global investment in COVID-19 vaccines has clearly paid off, with several vaccines now approved for use in multiple countries. The success of intense investment in vaccine development should serve as an example of what is possible in the fight against malaria.
There is no room for complacency: 2.5 billion people in Asia Pacific are still at risk of contracting malaria. We need to maintain momentum against malaria to ensure lives are saved, health workers are supported, and progress is not lost— and that we stay on track to eliminate malaria by 2030.