Lao health ministry and international agency announce partnership to eliminate malaria

VIENTIANE, March 8 (Xinhua): The Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Lao Ministry of Health, working in partnership with Health and Population Services International, has received new funding to assist pharmacies and clinics to eliminate malaria in Laos.

In Lao capital Vientiane, this work is being led by the Greater Mekong Subregion Elimination of Malaria through Surveillance project, with financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The foundation has provided more than US$1.19 million to Population Services International to finance the work of the Department of Communicable Disease Control and the Center of Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology.

According to a report of local daily Vientiane Times on Tuesday, the grant will support the strengthening of the public sector, pharmacies, and clinics to control and accelerate malaria elimination in the provinces of Savannakhet, Champasak, Saravan, Sekong and Attapeu.

Deputy Director of the Department of Communicable Disease Control Ratsamy Vongkhamsao and acting Country Director of Population Services International Laos Saysana Phanalasy signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the control and elimination of the disease here last Friday.

Malaria is a threat to the people of Laos and many other countries. Every year, people in the five southern provinces of Laos contract malaria, Ratsamy said.

"We would like to continue to ask for assistance at a time when Laos is facing economic difficulties as well as dealing with the continuing threat of COVID-19," she added.

The project aims to support the government's strategy to eliminate malaria in Laos by 2030 by integrating pharmacies and clinics into national surveillance systems, planning, and management structures. - Xinhua