WHO Myanmar - Areas of Work - Prevention and control of Communicable Diseases

WHO Myanmar

Prevention and control of Communicable Diseases

Malaria and other vector-borne diseases

Roll back malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases:

Providing technical support to the Ministry of Health for prevention and control of malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases:

development of policies, strategies and guidelines;

training;

planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation;

development of information, education and communication strategy and materials;

conduct research.

Advocacy and resource mobilization.

Coordination with partners and dissemination of technical information.

Supporting Ministry of Health and other partners in addressing major issues on malaria control such as multi-drug resistance, fake/counterfeit drugs, malaria among migrant workers and ethnic groups, quality assurance of drugs and diagnostics.

Facilitating cross-border collaboration.

Facilitating human resource development through local and international training.

Supporting morbidity control and mass drug administration for elimination of lymphatic filariasis.

Providing logistics support

Malaria in border townships of Myanmar; current situation and implication for action
	There has been increasing concern about malaria situation in the borders areas of Myanmar. Myanmar is located in South East Asia Region and bordering with Bangladesh, China, India and Thailand. There are 39 townships located along the border; one township in Myanmar-Bangladesh border, fourteen townships in Myanmar - China border, eight townships in Myanmar – India border and sixteen townships in Myanmar – Thailand border… More Information
Signing of a new grant between Three Diseases Fund and WHO for scaling up malaria control activities in Myanmar
	Since 2006, the prevention and control of Malaria, one of the public health priorities in Myanmar, has been further strengthened through the financial support of Three Diseases Fund (3DF) Programme, along with the technical assistance from WHO. To date 3 DF programme has supported approximately USD 9 million for Malaria control efforts in Myanmar. More Information
Workshop to review and plan therapeutic efficacy surveys to monitor P. falciparum and P. vivax resistance to antimalarial drug in the Greater Mekong Subregion
The Myanmar National Malaria Control Programme, in collaboration with WHO Country Office, hosted the workshop to review and plan therapeutic efficacy surveys to monitor P. falciparum and P. vivax resistance to antimalarial drug in the Greater Mekong Subregion in Mandalay, September 30 - October 2, 2009… More Information
Experts Recommend Actions to Prevent the Emergence and Spread of Anti-malarial Drugs Resistance in Myanmar
The Department of Medical Research (Lower Myanmar), in collaboration with WHO, successfully concluded a Technical Meeting on Anti-malarial Drug Resistance in Myanmar on 13 March 2009. Experts on malaria from national and international organizations and representatives from Food and Drug Administration and the pharmaceutical companies in Myanmar participated. They concluded that treatment failure rates to artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACTs) is high, and the prolonged parasite clearance time documented in seven cases is a concern. However, it was not clear if the treatment failures and the prolonged parasite clearance time were due to Plasmodium falciparum resistance to artemisinins since pharmacokinetic studies were not done and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis was only done for studies carried out in 2007. Previous report on two cases of P. vivax malaria resistant to chloroquine was noted. Further studies are needed to validate resistance of P. vivax to chloroquine and to determine the magnitude. More Information

Improving Quality of Management of Malaria by the Private General Practitioners
The case management of malaria by the general practitioners (GPs) is being improved through Quality Diagnosis and Standard Treatment of Malaria Project. It is being implemented by Myanmar Medical Association (MMA) with financial grant from Three Diseases Fund and with technical and management support by WHO. In addition, the WHO Mekong Malaria Programme provides support to MMA to promote to GPs nationwide the rational use of recommended antimalarial drugs as per national malaria treatment policy. More Information
MCC-WHO-3DF community-based malaria control: progress and challenges
		Empowered village health volunteers are making significant contributions towards malaria control, there is no more death attributed to malaria in their respective communities and the villagers appreciated very much their services. These sum up the progress to date of community-based malaria control project in 160 remote hard to reach villages being implemented by the Myanmar Council of Churches (MCC). It is financially supported by Three Diseases Fund (3DF), and with technical and management support by WHO. More Information
Publications
Strategic Framework for Artemisinin Resistance Containment in Myanmar (MARC) 2011 - 2015, April 2011 Full document [pdf]
Report of the informal consultation on Myanmar Artemisinin Resistance Containment (MARC), Nay Pyi Taw, 4 - 5 April 2011 Full document [pdf]
Report of the workshop to review and plan therapeutic efficacy studies to monitor P. falciparum and P. vivax resistance to antimalarial drugs in the Greater Mekong Sub-region Mandalay, Myanmar, September 30 - October 2, 2009 Full document [pdf]
WORLD MALARIA REORT, 2010 Success in the fight against malaria comes largely of a new approach involving a broad range of partners coming together in common cause, World Malaria Report, 2010 A growing number of countries have recorded decreases in the number of confirmed cases of malaria and/ or reported admissions and deaths since 2000. Global control efforts have resulted in a reduction in the estimated number of deaths from nearly 1 million in 2000 to 781 000 in 2009. This was possible due to Malaria-endemic countries and the global community are scaling up effective interventions to attain both coverage and impact targets for 2010 and beyond. . Sustained action and vigilance remain critical to wining the battle against a tenacious, ever-changing foe, which kills a Lrge number of people each year. It is estimated that the number of cases of malaria rose from 233 million in 2000 to 244 million in 2005 but decreased to 225 million in 2009. The number of deaths due to malaria is estimated to have decreased from 985 000 in 2000 to 781 000 in 2009. Decreases in malaria burden have been observed in all WHO Regions, with the largest proportional decreases noted in the European Region, followed by the Region of the Americas. The largest absolute decreases in deaths were observed in Africa. More Info… [PDF 6.6 MB] Executive summary [PDF 481 KB]
Malaria in the Greater Mekong Subregion: Regional and Country Profiles This report provides an overview of the epidemiological patterns of malaria in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) from 1998 to 2007, and highlights critical challenges facing National Malaria Control Programmes and partners as they move towards malaria elimination as a programmatic goal. Full document [pdf]