Partnership focusing on PNG, Indonesia, Timor-Leste

A NETWORK of countries and stakeholders in the Asia Pacific committed to the elimination of malaria have announced a new partnership focusing on Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Timor-Leste.
The Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance, Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APLMA-APMEN) and the Global Institute for Disease Elimination (Glide) have pledged their support to the governments of the three countries as a collaborative effort to tackle the disease.
Over the last decade, both Indonesia and Timor-Leste have made significant progress towards malaria elimination but controlling malaria across national borders remains a challenge to eliminating it on a country wide scale.
APLMA-APMEN and Glide will be conducting a situations analysis in Milne Bay, where both malaria and lymphatic filariasis (LF) are common and deadly, supporting local health services to guide decision making on an integrated management approach.
Malaria and LF are two of the deadliest mosquito-borne diseases, killing thousands of people globally.
Both diseases are transmitted by the same vector (mosquitoes) and share common feeding and breeding habits.
Working along with key partners in PNG, the partnership will identify interventions to address the cross-border malaria situation between Indonesia and Timor-Leste.
As the Coronavirus (Covid-19) has placed a strain on national health budgets there is a need to develop cost-effective, integrated models of service delivery.
This effort aims to enhance the integration of management for the two diseases which will lead to an improved utilisation of existing resources.