Welcome to
Malaria Week
MALARIA WEEK is a convening of high-level government officials and other national, regional and global stakeholders, to work together for elimination of malaria from Asia and the Pacific by 2030
about
At the 8th East Asia Summit (EAS) in 2013, the 18 Heads of Government established the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) to address the challenges of malaria in the region. In 2014, they committed to the goal of an Asia Pacific free of malaria by 2030. Most recently, at the 14th EAS in 2019, Leaders ‘reiterated commitment to the goal of a malaria-free Asia Pacific by 2030 and acknowledged ongoing efforts in the implementation of the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Elimination Roadmap’. And ‘requested for a 5-year progress report on the progress made in the region towards 2030 to be submitted to the EAS in 2020’.’’
Malaria Week and the annual APLMA Senior Officials’ Meeting
Malaria Week, first convened in 2016 in Bangkok, provides a platform for dialogue and information exchange among national, regional, and global stakeholders to support the Leaders’ commitment to end malaria in Asia and the Pacific by 2030. Malaria Week partners include APLMA, Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN), World Health Organization, Global Fund, and The Roll Back Malaria Partnership, as well as civil society organizations and private sector.
Malaria Week is attended by a wide range of actors, all whom contribute to the regional efforts towards a malaria-free Asia-Pacific. Participants include senior government officials from health, finance, foreign affairs and defense agencies, national malaria program directors, program technical staff, private sector service providers, corporate sector stakeholders, and representatives from civil society organizations, health financing institutions, and development and donor partners.
Malaria Week culminates with the annual APLMA Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) during which senior government officials from health, finance, foreign affairs, and other key agencies use the APLMA Leaders’ Dashboard to review progress towards and challenges to attaining the 2030 goal. At the 2020 APLMA SOM, senior officials will launch the 5-Year Regional Progress Report to be delivered to the 15th EAS in November 2020.
Malaria Week 2020
Schedule
APMEN Annual Meeting
Monday, 7 September 2020 | 13:00 – 17:00 Hanoi Time, Online
The Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN), established in 2009, is a network of national malaria programs (NMP) and partner institutions, including research, academic, and implementing organisations to provide technical and operational support to NMPs for accelerating malaria elimination. The Annual Meeting provides a forum for NMPs and partners to review technical and operational progress and challenges from across Asia and the Pacific, and to elevate lessons learned and challenges encountered for policy advocacy with senior officials at the APLMA SOM.
Key objectives of the APMEN Annual Meeting
- Review technical and operational progress and identify challenges from across Asia and the Pacific;
- Identify key regional challenges to inform senior officials at the APLMA SOM
(A detailed agenda will be sent by email)
Side Meeting Series: Malaria Week Dialogues
1. Strong Surveillance Systems and Timely Reporting
Tuesday, 8 September 2020 | 13:00 – 15:00 Hanoi Time, Online
Surveillance is a core component of effective system to support malaria elimination. Effective surveillance data will help countries to monitor progress towards elimination, deploy resources more efficiently, and devise targeted interventions to the last remaining at-risk places. The APLMA Leaders’ Malaria Elimination Roadmap: 5-year Review of Progress (2015–2019) highlights that robust disease surveillance systems and timely information transfer will significantly contribute to improved health security. This session will:
- Reflect on importance of strong surveillance systems and real time data during COVID-19 pandemic and for other infectious diseases;
- Highlight gaps in current malaria surveillance and reporting systems and ways to improve them;
- Discuss the policy process in making malaria a notifiable disease and identify stakeholders critical to the process; and
- Provide recommendations to improve surveillance in hard-to-reach communities.
Side Meeting Series: Malaria Week Dialogues
2. Sustaining Health Financing in a time of Crisis
Wednesday, 9 September 2020 | 13:00 – 15:00 Hanoi Time, Online
Many countries in Asia Pacific have made significant gains in the fight against malaria, underpinned by large increases in financing, especially domestic resources. However, progress is uneven and may prove transient. At the same time, the world economy is experiencing an unprecedented recession, which is negatively impacting government revenues, ODA and health budgets across the world. The session will:
- Review the potential impact of COVID-19 on government revenues and budgets;
- Highlight how reduced financing may jeopardize the malaria elimination goal;
- Identify actions to sustain health financing for critical services; and
- Recommend collective priority actions to sustain financing in Asia Pacific.
Side Meeting Series: Malaria Week Dialogues
3. Harnessing innovation to accelerate malaria elimination and strengthen health security
Thursday, 10 September 2020 | 13:00 – 15:00 Hanoi Time, Online
Rise in comparative burden of P. vivax malaria continues to be one of the remaining challenges to malaria elimination in the region. In addition, COVID-19 has impacted access to essential health commodities, including diagnostic tests and treatments for malaria. The session will:
- Introduce the epidemiological landscape of P. vivax in the region;
- Present existing and new treatment regimens for the radical cure of P. vivax;
- Highlight the need for administering radical cure safely with G6PD point of care testing;
- Elaborate on streamlined regulatory process that will facilitate the expedited introduction of these game-changing malaria commodities; and
- Discuss the impact of COVID-19 on access to malaria commodities and the importance of securing supply chains.
APLMA Senior Officials’ Meeting
Friday, 11 September 2020 | 13:00 – 15:00 Hanoi Time, Online
The APLMA Leaders’ Roadmap calls for a Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) to be convened to facilitate high-level discussions and analysis of progress against priorities for elimination. As part of Malaria Week 2020, the SOM will bring together senior officials from health, finance, foreign affairs, defense and other relevant national agencies from malaria endemic countries across Asia and the Pacific, together with key development partners.
Key objectives of the APLMA Senior Officials’ Meeting
- Review policy and programmatic progress made in 2019 and identify critical success factors using the APLMA Leaders’ Dashboard tool; including discussion of what further interventions and collaboration is needed to accelerate elimination efforts;
- Facilitate discussions to identify policy solutions to the most significant regional challenges to malaria elimination and health security, including strengthening leadership, engaging the whole of society, increasing sustainable health financing, and ensuring universal access;
- Identify critical challenges to regional malaria elimination and issue a call for action to the Heads of Government; and
- Endorse the Five-Year Regional Progress Report to be delivered to the 15th EAS (Viet Nam, 2020).
(A detailed agenda will be sent by email)
Event Hosts
The National Institute of Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology (NIMPE) (alternative name: Viện Sốt Rét – Ký Sinh Trùng – Côn Trùng Trung Ương) is the agency within the Ministry of Health charged with leading malaria elimination in Viet Nam.
The Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific Heads of Government, formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate the disease in the region by 2030.
The Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) is a network of countries and stakeholders in the Asia Pacific region, that are committed to working towards malaria elimination. The Network acts as a platform to allow collaboration and exchange between regional malaria control programs and a range of international elimination partners from the academic, non-governmental and private sectors, as well as the World Health Organization (WHO).
