Malaria Consortium is an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to improving the delivery of prevention and treatment of malaria and other communicable diseases in Africa and Asia.
Our mission is to bring to poor people relief from and protection against communicable diseases, especially malaria, by being a leading organisation combining cutting-edge technical ability and operational excellence.
Since its inception, Malaria Consortium has always maintained engagement with malaria control in Asia. This engagement has grown from long-term collaborations with the region, together with a commitment to working on the particular challenges faced in Asia. One of these challenges is the maintenance of malaria control activities in contexts where malaria is declining from its earlier position of major health burden, with the consequent need to decentralise and integrate malaria activities with other health programme priorities. Strong information and monitoring are needed to deal with a disease that is in decline but could re-emerge.
Yet, the most challenging issue with global implications is artemisinin resistance and the possibility of malaria elimination in the region. Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) is currently the most effective drug combination to treat malaria, yet resistance to the drug is suspected along the Thai-Cambodia border. As such, containment of this resistance is required, through the detection and effective treatment of all malaria cases, ensuring quality ACTs are available and target particularly mobile groups, such as migrant populations, who are at most risk of spreading resistant parasites outside target areas.
Malaria Consortium’s role in Asia is to provide support to national programmes and partners in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Yunnan province of China), to ensure good evidence supports the delivery of effective services, while providing technical support for monitoring and evaluation of programmes and activities for evidence-based decision making and strategic planning. Furthermore, Malaria Consortium also specialises in operational research, behaviour change communications, surveillance, and cross-border coordination; focusing its activities in containment of artemisinin resistance, strengthening the capacity of national malaria programmes in the control of malaria, and providing assistance in developing strategies and plans for pre-elimination and elimination of the disease.
Malaria Consortium collaborates with Mahidol in a variety of activities. Our organisation is in a unique position to bridge research and national programmes’ implementation of evidence-based interventions. As a key partner of the Faculty of Tropical Medicine at Mahidol University, Malaria Consortium participates in collaborative research and symposia, such as the Joint International Tropical Medicine Meeting and the International Malaria Colloquium. Through this mutual cooperation, we aim to foster information sharing and learning between Africa and Asia.
Malaria Consortium serves as a member of the Technical Advisory Board for the Office of International Cooperation, and contributes in advisory roles for the university’s doctoral degree programmes. As partners in the Artemisinin Resistance Containment Project along the Thai-Cambodia border, Malaria Consortium also collaborates with Mahidol University’s Centre of Excellence for Biomedical and Public Health Information (BIOPHICS) in harmonizing information systems and surveillance along the Thai-Cambodia border. This partnership will continue during the Global Fund Round 10 Thailand programming, expanding the current surveillance system to provinces outside Containment areas.
Yet, the most challenging issue with global implications is artemisinin resistance and the possibility of malaria elimination in the region. Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) is currently the most effective drug combination to treat malaria, yet resistance to the drug is suspected along the Thai-Cambodia border. As such, containment of this resistance is required, through the detection and effective treatment of all malaria cases, ensuring quality ACTs are available and target particularly mobile groups, such as migrant populations, who are at most risk of spreading resistant parasites outside target areas.