Greater Mekong countries pledge to accelerate malaria elimination efforts

Member countries comprising Greater Mekong subregion - Cambodia, China, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam – adopted a call for action on 8 December 2017, to accelerated action to eliminate malaria by the year 2030. 

The call comes amid concern over resistance of malaria parasites to antimalarial drugs, including artemisinin—the core compound of the best available antimalarial medicines. To date, resistance has been detected in five of the six GMS countries. The best way to address the threat posed by drug resistance is to eliminate malaria altogether from the countries of the Mekong.