Viet Nam mobilizes forces to push towards malaria elimination

Over the past five years, the number of people being infected with malaria in Viet Nam has plummeted. Now, as the country marks World Malaria Day on 25 April, efforts are focused on the final phase of action to end the disease.

In 2024, Viet Nam reported a record low number of cases – just 353 cases, including 171 imported cases. This is a drop of more than 90% since 2019, when there were more than 4600 cases.

Even better, the country recorded no deaths from malaria in 2024. So far, 48 provinces and cities have been officially recognized as malaria-free, significant progress towards achieving the national target of malaria elimination by 2030, or sooner.

Viet Nam’s progress is due to the dedication and commitment of health-care workers in even the remotest communities, under the leadership of the Government, the support of national and regional institutes, and provincial, district and commune health facilities, donors and partners like the World Health Organization (WHO).

Making progress towards malaria elimination has meant investing in essential services including rapid screening and diagnosis of people in high-risk groups; maintaining diagnostic capacity for early detection and treatment at health centres; control measures such as indoor spraying and widespread use of mosquito nets in malaria-prone areas; and mass drug administration, which involves giving antimalarial medication to everyone in a high-risk area, regardless of whether they are infected or not. The final push to elimination using this more focused approach reflects the theme in Viet Nam of World Malaria Day, which is “Mobilizing All Forces to Eliminate Malaria”.

With malaria now concentrated in a small number of isolated, remote, mountain communities, the effort must go on mobilizing to reach the people who are at greatest risk.

One example is in Lai Chau Province, in north-western Viet Nam bordering China.

For several years, Lai Chau has reported about 100 cases of people infected with Plasmodium vivax each year in small communities inhabited by the La Hu ethnic group in Muong  Te District. This type of malaria can be difficult to detect, and people can experience relapses of infection with very few symptoms. The parasite can survive among anyone exposed to malaria-bearing mosquitoes in these forested areas.

Pa Ve Su Village in Muong Te District under Lai Chau Province in Viet Nam. Photo: UNOPS ARHC

In 2024, in addition to conventional malaria interventions, people in high-risk villages in Lai Chau received antimalarial medication. This kind of mass drug administration together with other interventions have interrupted transmission of the disease.

Results have been impressive.

Cases in Lai Chau declined 83% from 93 in 2023 to just 16 in 2024.

Crucial to this success was the dedication of local, commune health workers, supported by the National Institute of Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology (NIMPE), and the Lai Chau Provincial Health Department and Centre for Disease Control.

Vang Thi Hac, 34, is a commune health worker and malaria focal person at Pa Ve Su Commune Health Centre in Muong  Te District. The health centre covers 12 villages with 748 households and a population of 2931. Most people live or work in areas that are high risk for malaria such as forests, or mines.

Commune health worker Vang Thi Hac at her health station in Pa Ve Su, Lai Chau Province, Viet Nam.
Photo: UNOPS ARHC

Ms Vang and her colleagues are prepared to go the extra mile to reach the hard-to-reach population in her commune. Sometimes she faces challenges because of the road conditions. It takes at least three hours by motorbike to reach the villages, a journey made more difficult by Ms Vang’s chronic knee pain.

“I will get to them no matter what. It’s my duty to take care of them,” she said.

NIMPE Director Dr Hoang Dinh Canh said, “Viet Nam has made great efforts in the last five years to reduce malaria cases and deaths, with support from the Global Fund, WHO and other partners.

“To achieve national elimination by 2030 we will need to work even harder and focus more on controlling malaria in several provinces. At the same time, we need to prevent the reestablishment of malaria in provinces where it has been eliminated. We look forward to the continued strong support of WHO and our generous donors.”

Commune health worker Vang Thi Hac conducts malaria microscopy at her health station in Pa Ve Su, Lai Chau Province, Viet Nam. Photo: UNOPS ARHC

WHO Representative in Viet Nam Dr Angela Pratt said Viet Nam’s approach illustrates this year’s World Malaria Day theme, which is Malaria Ends with Us: Reinvest, Reimagine, Reignite.

“To ensure that Viet Nam can reach the target of eliminating malaria by 2030, there needs to be reinvestment by stepping up financial commitments – including domestic funding to ensure Viet Nam can sustainably control malaria.

“We need to continue to prioritize the tools that are proven to work, including vector control, and timely detection, diagnosis and treatment. Alongside this, we need to reimagine how to tackle persistent infection by continuing effective intervention including active case finding, vector control and wherever relevant, targeted strategies such as those used so successfully in Lai Chau Province.

“And finally, we need to reignite to continue to close gaps in access to health care – and to the information and resources that people need to protect themselves,” Dr Pratt said.

Viet Nam is on track to stop transmission from 2027 onward so it can meet the national goal of being certified malaria-free by WHO in 2030.

In 2025, WHO is proud to collaborate with Viet Nam to develop a national strategy to guide the final phase of elimination for 2026-2030. In preparation for this, WHO will will support Viet Nam to review the implementation of the national malaria programme and help finalize national guidelines on preventing the re-establishment of malaria. Previous collaboration has included reviewing the malaria diagnostics system and quality assurance.

To prevent malaria from resurging, the country will need to maintain alertness, including for cases from abroad. In 2024, one-third of cases in Viet Nam were from returning migrant workers.

WHO is proud to work with NIMPE and regional institutes for malariology, parasitology and entomology, and partners to support the country’s malaria elimination efforts. This work is supported by valued partners and donors including the Global Fund, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), Vietnam Public Health Association (VPHA), Health Poverty Action (HPA) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).