The aim of this program is to improve malaria program implementation in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) (with a particular focus on Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand), and build a robust and reliable evidence platform capable of developing and evaluating operational research, surveillance, and monitoring &evaluation (M&E) activities to inform policies and practices in conjunction with national malaria control programs and other partners.
The specific aims are as follows: Develop and refine M&E and surveillance tools in order to assess the impact of existing interventions, monitor short-term malaria burden and transmission trends and inform programs on when to move from control to elimination strategies. To monitor artemisinin and artemisinin combination therapy ACT resistance using innovative approaches to conduct a series of OR activities to assess country-specific feasibility of malaria active case detection interventions, evaluation of innovative delivery mechanisms to target hard to reach populations and point of care diagnostics. Promote use of knowledge by local and national policy makers and program planners ensuring strategic information is disseminated and shared among GMS and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and best practices harmonized in the region. The principal approach will be to strengthen national programs capacity to move from malaria control to elimination and to support artemisinin resistance containment through the implementation and use of robust and innovative M&E, surveillance, and operational research. Malaria Consortium works closely with national malaria programs and partners through provision of technical assistance and implementation support. We shall focus on operationalizing the useful tools and promoting their uptake. In addition to its own team MC will engage key technical assistance from London School of Hygiene &Tropical Medicine and Institute Pasteur in Cambodia as well as some independent consultants, and if savings are made, MC will also engage Health Poverty Action for work in the special regions of eastern Burma. We shall work in strong collaboration with CDC and with WHO, and shall provide technical support also when needed to other PMI supported programs. By the end of the program we expect that a much higher standard of surveillance will be fully operational in partner countries, and key responses to malaria problem areas will be designed and implemented.
The program addresses the key operational and research gaps that national malaria control programs in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) face in their from malaria control move towards malaria elimination. By providing innovative approaches to overcome these challenges, this program will contribute to the reduction of the malaria burden and therefore improving the health and well-being of the population in the GMS.
