2009 Meeting and Activities Archives

Mekong Malaria Programme Core Partners Meeting Towards the Implementation of a 5-year Strategic Plan for Malaria Control and Elimination in the Greater Mekong Subregion, Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers Bangkok, Thailand, 5th -6th October 2009  (PDF File, 217 KB)

MMP core partners met in Bangkok from 5 to 6 October 2010 to review progress made during the FY08 and plan activities expected to be implemented during the FY09.  In addition to technical discussion and planning review, the strategic MMP document entitled “Towards the Implementation of a Strategic Plan for Malaria Control and Elimination in the Greater Mekong Subregion: 2010-2014” was presented to all MMP core partners and Mekong Malaria Programme Managers. During the two-day meeting, partners together reviewed the document, participated in a series of discussions around specific technical areas and provided inputs and recommendations to finalize the strategic MMP framework including M&E. The final draft will be made available to all malaria programme managers for their final inputs and endorsement at the next ACTMalaria board meeting in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR in March 2010. 

Workshop to review and plan therapeutic efficacy studies to monitor P. falciparum and P. vivax resistance to anti-malarial drugs in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, Mandalay, Union of Myanmar. September 30 - October 2, 2009

The Mekong malaria in vivo Therapeutic Efficacy Study (TES) Network, coordinated by WHO, aims to monitor the therapeutic efficacy of first line antimalarial drugs by promoting the use of a single standardized TES protocol across all Mekong countries. 

An informal consultation was organized in Phuket in September 2007, Thailand, with representatives and principal investigators from malaria control programmes of Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam and partners. Participants agreed to use the updated WHO TES protocol and related case management guidelines to monitor therapeutic failure of first line anti-malarial drugs in the GMS. Preliminary results from TES carried out in 2008 and 2009 in 34 sentinel sites were presented by PIs in Mandalay,Myanmar in September 2009.  Longer Parasite Clearance Time (PCT) and decreasing efficacy rate (ACPR) of ACTs have been observed in Kawthaung on the south eastern part of Myanmar bordering Thailand, province of Ranong, where ACPR (using As-M) has been also declining since 2006. Preliminary results show also a longer PCT (at day 3 and beyond) to As7 monotherapy in Ruili, Yunnan province of China bordering Myanmar, and in Binh Phuoc Province in southern Viet Nam bordering Cambodia, province of Snoul. All results have to be confirmed.

Also noted during the workshop was the increasing complexity to recruit malaria cases through single sentinel site channel against required sample size in most of Mekong countries. New multi-district / sentinel sites approaches will be discussed and piloted to address that situation.

USAID-funded core partners met in Phuket, Thailand on April 27-29, 2009 (PDF file, 412 KB)

USAID-funded core partners met in Phuket, Thailand on April 27-29, 2009 to present and discuss their progress against FY08 planning. On top of partners' activities supported by USAID, special attention was paid to ongoing intensive artemisinin- resistant containment activities on the Cambodia-Thailand border as well as on progress made to monitor efficacy of ACTs in the GMS.  A plea was made to participants to increase their techncial and financial engagement to support core interventions of the strategy to eliminate artemisinin-resistant parasites in the GMS. A more comprehensive MMP plan will be developed by September 2009. Next MMP meeting is planned on October 6-7, 2009.

Technical meeting on antimalarial drug resistance in Myanmar, Chatrium Hotel, Yangon, 11-13 March 2009

The WHO country office in Yangon alongside with the Ministry of Health and Department Research Centers in Myanmar has organized from 11 to 13 March 2009 a technical workshop on antimalarial drug resistance in Myanmar.  22 participants (from Upper, Central and Lower Myanmar), 10 resource persons, 5 board of Director Members, 6 Observers have been actively involved in technical discussion on results from past studies conducted with different antimalarials in Myanmar and immediate perspectives in light of growing artemisinin resistance to malaria parasites in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). Most participants who came from the field are expected to manage / carry out Therapeutic Efficacy Studies (TES) in Myanmar in 2009-10. A global and regional update of malaria parasite resistance to antimalarials was given to participants by P. Ringwald and D. Bustos respectively and progress made in Myanmar was presented by national experts from national research institutions in charge of TES.

Prof Malan Than provided a very interesting and complete overview of all TES conducted in Myanmar during the last 10 years testing various antimalarials. The MOH of Myanmar has developed an impressive data set from TES with quite extensive documentation on drug efficacy of key interest for the national

programme and for neighboring countries. In light of TES to be conducted in Myanmar in 2009, participants were updated on all technical details including budget calculation of the WHO protocol on TES (which is applied in all Mekong countries) including a training session on the automated excel sheet promoted by the Global Malaria Programme (GMP) to computerize, analyze and report on data generated from field surveys (each participant had a desktop computer during that session). Emphasis was made on the importance for the malaria programme in Myanmar and partners to fully engage in scaling up malaria control interventions (Universal Coverage) which will cost an estimated USD 240 million countrywide over the next five years on top of specific artemisinin resistance containment interventions (e.g. surveillance) which have already started in Cambodia and Thailand (presentation made by C. Delacollette). Recommendations as action points are under finalization.

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