APMEN Newsletter - September 2021

Malaria surveillance and response cover a wide remit including passive and active case detection, case investigation, focus classification, drug efficacy and entomological surveillance, case management, control and elimination activities, and monitoring and evaluation. A foreword from the chair of the APMEN Surveillance Response Working Group (SRWG) below emphasizes the need to share information, build trust and establish communication networks to accelerate progress towards our elimination goals.

To support malaria surveillance and response across the Asia-Pacific, the APMEN SRWG, hosted by Mahidol Oxford Research Unit (MORU), has planned a series of activities over the coming months. Our SRWG monthly newsletter includes Research Highlights with curated lists of published papers and commissioned summaries by lead authors. A Training Needs Assessment (TNA) is also being conducted for an upcoming workshop series. A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who has taken part so far. Lastly, please join us on our first TechTalk on 30th September 2021 on the topic of Surveillance for Antimalarial Drug Resistance. We are excited to have leading experts such as Professor Arjen Dondorp and Professor Olivo Miotto from MORU and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute share their knowledge.

We look forward to engaging you more in the important area of malaria surveillance and response!

Kind regards,
Dr Rattanaxay Phetsouvanh
Chair of APMEN Surveillance & Response Working Group
And Director General at Department of Communicable Diseases Control, Lao PDR
Prof Richard J Maude
Co-Chair of APMEN Surveillance & Response Working Group
And Head of Epidemiology Department at Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit

As a long-standing champion of malaria elimination and a senior public health expert in the region, I am honored and very pleased to be asked to write an opening remark in the SRWG Guest Edition of the APMEN newsletter. The release of this newsletter comes at a critical time. The world is in the midst of a public health tragedy that is creating massive shifts in economic and health system landscapes, which makes the rapid sharing and exchange of information more relevant and important than ever.

The Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) has been working closely with the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) for many years, with a clear focus on developing a network of countries and stakeholders that are committed to eliminating malaria in the Asia Pacific by 2030. As a convening body, it has achieved great success in its role as a platform for malaria programs to engage with partner institutions and other stakeholders in the pursuit of malaria elimination. Now, in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, our shared challenge is to maintain the hard fought advantages that were achieved in pre-COVID-19 times, and to try to leverage the recent learnings and health systems’ investments to strengthen and improve integrated approaches to eliminating malaria, and preventing its re-introduction.

APMEN comprises National Malaria Programs from 21 countries and 50 partner institutions. All these countries have achieved tremendous progress towards their goals of malaria elimination and prevention of reintroduction, despite the presence of artemisinin resistant Plasmodium falciparum in parts of this region. According to the 2020 WHO Global Malaria Report, global malaria mortality fell by 60% over the period 2000 to 2019, with the African Region achieving impressive reductions in morbidity and mortality, with the countries in the Asia Pacific regions making particularly strong progress. India contributed to the largest drop in cases region-wide – from approximately 20 million to about 6 million.

In the Asia Pacific region, we are facing challenges such as multidrug resistant malaria strains, hard to reach migrant and mobile populations, and competition - both within and without the health sector- for resources and political recognition. As all countries move closer to malaria elimination, there is a need to share information, build trust and establish communication networks between governments, local communities, development partners, civil societies and academia. Foundations such as APMEN foster “technical and financing solutions to regional and national challenges and bolster effective country leadership to expedite elimination of malaria throughout the region by 2030” (APMEN Mission and Vision). The dissemination of regular APMEN newsletters is a small but important component in supporting the countries in the region towards the achievement of this regional vision.

Dr Rattanaxay Phetsouvanh
Chair of APMEN Surveillance & Response Working Group
And Director General at Department of Communicable Diseases Control, Lao PDR

Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) is assembling a panel of experts to discuss how to conduct surveillance for antimalarial drug resistance in the upcoming APMEN TechTalks webinar on 30^th September 2021. Further details will be circulated by email and posted on our event pages on the APMEN website and social media - Facebook and Twitter.

An online workshop was organized by the Jiangsu Institute of Parasitic Disease (JIPD) and APLMA-APMEN to strengthen the Solomon Island’s malaria programme's surveillance system based on the adapted ‘2-4-7 model’ at the provincial level, which is intended to be scaled up for elimination setting in the future. The workshop draws on China and Thailand's experience in implementing their surveillance and response system.

The RBM Partnership's Surveillance, Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group (SMERG) have just formed a new Task Force on Community Health co-chaired by our SRWG co-chair, Prof Richard Maude. The Task Force is currently seeking new members from the Asia-Pacific region. Get in touch with Richard at richard@tropmedres.ac to find out more.

RBM Partnership's Surveillance Practice and Data Quality (SP&DQ) Committee is implementing a new tracking mechanism to collect information of partners' projects that relate to surveillance, data quality and NMCP’s surveillance operations. The Committee invites implementing partners to fill out this questionnaire before 31October 2021. Findings will be available on the RBM SMERG website soon.

The updated and expanded Malaria Elimination Initiative (MEI) toolkit was developed based on current evidence within national malaria programmes, and aligned with global guidance on malaria control and elimination efforts. Equip with user-friendly manuals, guides and frameworks, this updated toolkit can be easily adapted at the local and subnational context. For technical assistance in adaption, tailoring and implementation, contact the MEI team at mei@ucsf.edu or visit their toolkit page for more information.

The report revealed the devasting impact of COVID-19 on TB, HIV and Malaria. Impact was less severe for malaria programs due to adaptation measures and the diligence and innovation of community health workers that sustained and even increased prevention activities compared to 2019. While indicators such as distribution of mosquito nets, and a number of structures covered by indoor residual spraying saw a positive increase, the number of suspected cases of malaria fell and progress against the disease was stalled. Read the full report for more detail on the key 2020 results.

APMEN is conducting a Training Needs Assessment (TNA) to identify priority topics for an upcoming online training series. Following the TNA survey, the SRWG will be conducting follow-up discussion meetings until the end of September 2021. If you have not been contacted to participate but are interested to join the assessment, please reach out to our SRWG coordinator, Massaya, for more information at massaya@tropmedres.ac.

Subscribe here to receive the APMEN SRWG monthly newsletter for the updates on malaria surveillance and response activities in the Asia-Pacific region, research highlights and feature stories from lead authors of new publications. Find the archive of previous SRWG newsletters here. The next newsletter will be come out in the last week of September and please send any news or information related to malaria surveillance and response to massaya@tropmedres.ac.

APMEN TechTalks webinar: "Non-biological threats to Insecticide Treated Nets Effectiveness"
Organizer: APMEN Vector Control Working Group
22 September 2021 (Wednesday), 4:00 pm Singapore time.
Register here

APMEN online course on Insecticide Susceptibility Monitoring in Malaria Vector Surveillance
Organizers: APMEN Vector Control Working Group, Kasetsart University and Malaria Consortium
28-29 September 2021 (Tuesday & Wednesday), 2:00 pm Singapore time.
Register here

APMEN TechTalks webinar "Surveillance for antimalarial drug resistance"
Organizer: APMEN Surveillance and Response Working Group
30 September 2021 (Thursday), 2:00 pm Singapore time.
Register here

APMEN TechTalks webinar "Appropriate surveillance: Early detection and granular understanding"
Organizer: APMEN Vector Control Working Group
12 October 2021 (Tuesday) 11:00 am Singapore time.
Register here

Seventh Future of Malaria Research Symposium
Organizer: Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute
12 November 2021 (Friday), 8:30 am EST
Register here

American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting
17-21 November 2021.
Read more

Joint International Tropical Medicine Meeting (JITMM) 2021
15-17 December 2021.
Read more

Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network Secretariat
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Email: info@apmen.org

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