Eliminating malaria in the Asia-Pacific

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute has joined the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) to develop and implement tools to aid malaria elimination programs throughout the Asia-Pacific.

APMEN, an international collaborative network working towards eliminating malaria in the Asia-Pacific region, is bringing attention and support to the underappreciated and little-known work of malaria elimination in the Asia-Pacific.

It is composed of 15 Asia-Pacific partner countries, as well as regional partners from the academic, development, non-governmental and private sectors and global agencies, including the World Health Organization.

“We are already working on innovative tools for measuring and tracking malaria transmission and infections,” said Professor Ivo Mueller, malaria researcher and laboratory head at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

“In developing these new tools, the most important thing is to work closely with malaria-endemic countries to ensure that the tools will be useful and usable for them.”

Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. There are more than 200 million cases of malaria worldwide each year, and around 627,000 deaths from malaria, mostly among African children.

APMEN has a specific focus on the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax, one of the four species of malaria found in humans, and a particular burden in the Asia-Pacific region. Although Plasmodium vivax has in the past been considered a ‘benign’ form of malaria, studies have shown that it is a significant cause of disease in the Asia-Pacific.

Professor Mueller said the institute was already working with APMEN on the evaluation of malaria treatment protocols in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, to help inform future elimination programs.

“Plasmodium vivax is the most common species of human malaria and a major cause of clinical cases of malaria outside of Africa,” Professor Mueller said. “It is particularly insidious because it can lay dormant in the liver, causing relapses months or years after treatment and continuing the cycle of transmission.”

Institute scientists collaborate with researchers in many malaria-endemic countries including Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Thailand.