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It [25 April] is World Malaria Day 2021 and we call on all stakeholders to draw the line against this disease, because all malaria cases and deaths are preventable. Although the WHO African Region accounts for virtually all 94% of global malaria cases and deaths, our countries have made progress in preventing both.
 

Ever since the inception of knowledge-based malaria control more than a century ago, vector control has been the primary strategy for combatting malaria. In recent decades, the focus has been on the use of Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs) and Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) of insecticides. In Asia Pacific, much of the transmission occurs outdoors, and such outdoor transmission is a major driver of residual malaria.

Countries in the Asia Pacific region have done extremely well in achieving impressing levels of malaria reduction, but many still face the challenges of pernicious residual malaria. In Greater Mekong Subregion, much of this remaining malaria occurs within remote forested areas among forest-goers and mobile populations, where transmission happens outdoors. In these situations, bed nets and indoor spraying are not effective. Much has been published and debated on the subject but remains as intractable a challenge as ever. What to do about it?

The Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) Vector Control Working Group is hosting a series of vector-related webinars to keep the elimination momentum.

View the recordings of the APMEN Tech Talk "Sampling methods for adult malaria vectors" - recorded on 28 April 2020

By Michael Macdonald, Sc.D.

As many of you have learned through the recent flurry of emails across our global vector control family, on Tuesday March 9 we lost a wonderful human being and great public health entomologist, Dr. Mike Bangs.

World Health Organization News Release, 25 February 2021

El Salvador is first Central American country to achieve this status, third in all of the Americas in recent years

El Salvador today became the first country in Central America to be awarded a certification of malaria elimination by the World Health Organization (WHO). The certification follows more than 50 years of commitment by the Salvadoran government and people to ending the disease in a country with dense population and geography hospitable to malaria.

Representatives from malaria-affected countries and partner organizations gathered on 28 January in a WHO virtual forum to share feedback and perspectives on the Global technical strategy for malaria 2016-2030.  Inputs from a diverse group of stakeholders will be reflected in an updated strategy, which will be published in June 2021.

By the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Adetokunbo Lucas, (born 1931; died 25 December 2020) universally known as Ade, was born in Nigeria, but he stands as a truly international figure through his service to medicine and the needs of the developing world.