News & Stories

Former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono takes on role as Special Advisor to APLMA

The baseline assessment gives an overview of existing GEDSI efforts in malaria elimination.

A new way to track the malaria elimination progress across Asia Pacific via the NEW Leaders' Dashboard.

The 8th Asia Pacific Leaders' Summit on Malaria Elimination, held in Papua New Guinea, brought together over 160 participants, including government officials, health professionals, and international representatives.

The Summit was chaired by Hon Dr Lino Tom, MP, Minister for Health, Papua New Guinea with the theme “Invest to Achieve Zero Malaria” and united stakeholders to address the significant burden and impact of malaria among Pacific Island nations, as well as the need for health system investment, regional collaboration, and innovative solutions.

Round-up of stories on challenges and impact, engagement and progress towards malaria elimination from the global health community

In the Asia Pacific region, malaria and Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) exhibit comparable transmission patterns and overlap geographically. Integrating the responses to tackle these two diseases holds significant promise, as both diseases can potentially be effectively managed using the same vector-targeted interventions.

At the Provincial Leaders’ Forum during the 8th Asia Pacific Leaders' Summit on Malaria Elimination in Port Moresby, Governor Gary Juffa of Oro Province, Papua New Guinea, reaffirmed his steadfast commitment to eradicating malaria. His keynote speech highlighted the essential need for collaboration among government officials, health organizations, and local communities to address this significant challenge.

Malaria is considered a social justice issue disproportionately affecting marginalized communities such as pregnant women, children, mobile and rural dwelling populations as well as other minorities. Can Asia Pacific Eliminate Malaria While Leaving No One Behind?

Hon Dr Élia António de Araújo dos Reis Amaral, Minister of Health for Timor-Leste, joined a panel discussion alongside Hon Dr Lino Tom, MP, Minister for Health of Papua New Guinea, and Hon Dr Paul Popora Bosawai, Minister of Health and Medical Services of the Solomon Islands at the 8th Asia Pacific Leaders’ Summit on Malaria Elimination on 6 June 2024 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Throughout the discussion, titled "Committing to the Malaria Elimination Goal: Strengthening Regional Collaboration for Malaria Elimination", Hon Dr Amaral answered important questions on the role of integration and strengthening regional collaboration as Timor-Leste approaches malaria-free distinction.

Welcoming all delegates to the second day of the 8thAsia Pacific Leaders’ Summit on Malaria Elimination in Port Moresby, Dr Saia Piukala, Regional Director for the World Health Organization (WHO) WesternPacific Regional Office, highlighted the WHO’s commitment to ending malaria throughclose engagement with government leaders, partners, and communities.

Prime Minister James Marape reaffirmed Papua New Guinea's commitment to eliminating malaria by 2030 during the 8th Asia Pacific Leaders' Summit on Malaria Elimination. Health Ministers signed the EDEN Initiative to foster regional collaboration against malaria and other vector-borne diseases.

On June 6, 2024, Health Ministers from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, and Vanuatu launched the EDEN Initiative at the 8th Asia Pacific Leaders' Summit on Malaria Elimination. The initiative aims to combat malaria and other vector-borne diseases through regional partnerships. Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands face rising malaria cases, while Vanuatu's progress is threatened by various challenges. The EDEN Initiative will enhance regional support, capacity building, and financing to address these issues effectively.

APLMA and APMEN extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the late Mr Leo Makita.

Leaders and partners across Asia Pacific showed commitment on World Malaria Day 2024.

Naomi Gima is a Regional Malaria Coordinator in Papua New Guinea, leading a team conducting field visits to communities and health centres across Morobe Province to strengthen local capacities to prevent malaria.

New Sustainability Thematic Feature gives six country cases on the five sustainability domains for malaria.

Malaria Progression in Nepal

China's eradication of malaria was a momentous feat, making it a potential blueprint for other countries in the region.

While governments and civil society in Asia Pacific are working to address diverse needs, many knowledge gaps remain.

The Leaders’ Summit will be a pivotal milestone for leaders within PNG and the Asia Pacific region to unite

With decades of progress in reducing malaria cases and deaths, the Asia Pacific region is now poised to accelerate its efforts towards malaria elimination using a science-based approach.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has certified Cabo Verde as a malaria-free country, marking a significant achievement in global health. With this announcement, Cabo Verde joins the ranks of 43 countries and 1 territory that WHO has awarded this certification.

Co-hosted by GLIDE, APLMA and Malaria No More, this symposium shared diverse views on climate change and malaria response.

The World Health Organization endorsed the R21/Matrix-M vaccine, marking a pivotal step in the fight against malaria.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

World Mosquito Day 2023 - one billion people in Asia Pacific at risk of malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases.

APLMA and ALMA engaged with the T20 how to achieve the SDG target of ending malaria and other communicable diseases.

For T20 India, APLMA and the Prasanna School of Public Health published a policy brief on sustaining malaria elimination in crisis zones.

As monsoon season continues in many parts of the Asia Pacific region, APLMA continues to work closely and remind with partners, national programmes, and communities to stay vigilant against the threat of malaria. APLMA is also looking forward to the upcoming C20 and T20 Summits next week leading up to the India G20 in September.

A round-up of stories on progress towards malaria elimination from the global health community

Mrs. Nouansy shares her story of working with high-risk remote communities in to detect and treat malaria in Lao PDR.

With only seven years left for Indonesia to achieve its target to end AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, the three diseases remain major health threats in the country.

As we enter 2023, the pandemic is abating yet the global health landscape remains altered beyond what we could have ever anticipated.

Reducing the burden of malaria in Papua New Guinea is vital to achieving the 2030 goal of a malaria-free Asia-Pacific

The last mile of malaria elimination will require a hard look at challenges which have previously been neglected.

Interview with Enoch Waipeli, Malaria Supervisor, in West Sepik, Papua New Guinea

Dr Rintis Noviyanti is part of a team tackling what the Indonesian Government has deemed a ‘national enemy’: malaria.

Enoch Waipeli leads the malaria control programme in Papua New Guinea's, West Sepik Province.

APLMA's latest work with partners - July 2022

Cross-border collaboration is key for malaria elimination in South Asia and global health security.

APLMA partnered to host a high-level reception uniting new and old supporters of the Global Fund.

APLMA and APMEN will be attending the Global Health Security 2022 conference in Singapore starting on 28 June 2022.

More progress has been made in Indonesia’s fight against malaria, with four provinces declaring the successful elimination of this acute febrile illness.

The most important stories from APLMA-APMEN as well as from others across the region in honor of World Malaria Day 2022.

lessons learned in the global fight against malaria, and polio, and more recently,COVID-19 as well as how we should tackle existing and future pandemics.

For World Malaria Day let’s focus on gender within malaria programming in Asia Pacific to provide equitable healthcare access to all.

The Asia-Pacific region is close to eliminating malaria, but to “finish the job” there must be a focus on the most vulnerable communities

As the two countries adjust their timelines and set their sights to eliminate malaria by 2025, experts identify critical actions to get them back on track.

As the Asia Pacific region continues to adapt to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and the new global health landscape, countries in the region have shown unwavering resilience to accelerate progress in the fight against one of our oldest and deadliest diseases.  This year’s APLMA Leaders’ Dashboard, which tracks progress towards malaria elimination reveals notable policy reforms and milestones, even amidst the challenges of the pandemic.

The Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance, Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APLMA-APMEN) and the Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE) have today announced a new partnership to support Governments to help drive the elimination of malaria and lymphatic filariasis (LF) in Papua New Guinea (PNG), and malaria elimination in Indonesia and Timor-Leste via innovative cross-disease and cross-border approaches.

The first two years of navigating COVID-19 has changed the way we view and approach global health and development. Many of us have adapted and evolved. Our malaria fight is no exception.

Malaria in Asia Pacific and globally is a disease of poverty and an engine of inequality. The disease thrives where healthcare systems are weak and where the poor and most vulnerable lack affordable access to malaria prevention, diagnosis, and treatment services. Advancing Universal Health Coverage have the potential to accelerate malaria elimination while existing programs to control and eliminate malaria can act as entry points to strengthen primary health care systems. Making progress in one will advance progress on the other.

The World Health Organisation’s annual World Malaria Report 2021, published today reveals that steady progress was made in 2020 across the Asia Pacific region in the fight against malaria. The Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) and Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) welcome overall progress in the region despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 but urge continued commitment and collaboration from countries to end malaria by 2030.

We see tangible evidence of robust collaboration across borders in Asia Pacific to address malaria and other public health challenges. In this spirit, APLMA-APMEN is co-hosting with the Royal Government of Bhutan the Asia Pacific Leaders Dialogue for Malaria Elimination.

APLMA is delighted to welcome Lady Roslyn Morauta and Dr Hsu Li Yang to the APLMA Board of Directors. Prof Tikki Pangestu will step down as Board Chair. His guidance over the past 5 years have been invaluable. The Secretariat wishes him the best in his future endeavours.

The Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) and Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) are delighted the World Health Organization has endorsed the use of the world’s first malaria vaccine, RTS,S/AS01, providing crucial protection against malaria in young children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Most mosquito-borne diseases are preventable. As we mark World Mosquito Day (Aug. 20), we celebrate the many breakthroughs, innovations and advances we have made towards eliminating them. But it is also occasion for renewing civil society’s commitment protecting vulnerable communities against malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges the world and the global health community face. The recent landmark study by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and floods as a key temperature limit is exceeded in just over a decade. Shifting weather patterns not only affect the migration of people, plants, animals, and insects, but also the spread of disease, including malaria.

In December 2020, 8,000 volunteers in Pakistan's restive tribal region managed to distribute nearly 1.5 million mosquito nets to over half a million households without contracting a single known case of Covid-19. How they did it offers a valuable lesson about how health authorities, by collaborating with communities and other stakeholders, can keep new health threats from disrupting the ongoing battle against malaria and other life-threatening diseases.

This International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (Aug. 9), the UN called for a new social contract, one that expresses genuine cooperation and partnership for the common good to ensure that “no one is left behind” and to put a stop to exclusion and marginalization.

The past quarter saw continuous COVID-19 disruptions but the recent China malaria-free certification is a global health silver lining.

Cross border malaria is a major impediment to achieving regional malaria elimination. No country can achieve this goal in isolation. At the 4th South East Asia Regional Coordination Mechanism Forum (SRCMF), APLMA-APMEN addressed the constituency to highlight the importance of implementing cross-border cooperation for malaria control & elimination.

Preventable infectious diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria account for one third of all under-five deaths. Globally, nearly half of all deaths among children under five are attributable to malnutrition (Caulfield 2004). In Asia Pacific, 351 million people are still undernourished, and the COVID-19 pandemic will only exacerbate this figure. UNICEF estimates an additional 6-7 million children under 5 globally will suffer from acute malnutrition as a result (UNICEF 2020).

World Malaria Day 2021 April 25, 2021 marks my first World Malaria Day as CEO of the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) and provides an opportunity for reflection. Fourteen years ago, while living in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, I held a mostly listless four-year-old boy in our home. The boy was my eldest son.  The cause of his illness: unknown to us. At first we did not suspect malaria- there was little, if any, where we lived in Highlands. But thinking it through further we recalled he had been to Port Moresby in the recent past so perhaps that was the culprit?

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, health systems throughout the world have been tested in unprecedented ways. With 124 million reported COVID-19 cases in 219 countries and territories globally, the impact of the novel coronavirus has left virtually no corner of the world untouched. While the full impact of this global pandemic on the fight against malaria is yet unknown, there are positive strides to report as revealed by the APLMA Leaders’ Dashboard 2020. Our region has shown resilience in sustaining efforts against malaria and continued to push policy reforms to support the response against this old scourge.

Malaria is a disease of the rural poor and the vulnerable. To achieve elimination by 2030 in Asia Pacific, countries must protect those most at high risk of malaria. Pregnant women and young children for example face a higher risk because of reduced immunity, yet their needs vis-à-vis malaria prevention and treatment are not being adequately met. The vulnerability to existing infectious diseases is further heightened by other health crisis of a global nature such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the public health consequences of climate change.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.

APLMA is an affiliation of Asian and Pacific heads of government formed to accelerate progress against malaria and to eliminate it in the region by 2030.