In a key milestone for Asia Pacific, today the People’s Republic of China has officially been certified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as malaria-free. The Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA), Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) and their partner The RBM Partnership welcome China’s achievement and the country’s notable contributions to the fight against malaria, while reflecting on the successes and learnings that can support malaria elimination across Asia Pacific and globally.

Progress against malaria is one of the biggest public health successes of this century. Over the past ten years, countries in the Asia Pacific region have almost halved the number of malaria deaths and cases and have continued to make impressive gains towards eliminating malaria by 2030. Among the countries in the region that were malaria endemic when the 2030 commitment was signed, China is the second country to be certified malaria-free, after Sri Lanka. In order to keep momentum in countries that are nearing malaria elimination, APLMA and APMEN are calling for continued urgency, an increase in global leadership and resources, to both protect the gains made against malaria over the last two decades and further bolster health systems against emergent communicable threats as we strive to defeat malaria within Asia Pacific and globally.

With over two and a half billion people in Asia Pacific still at risk and in some areas, with malaria cases rising, it is critical that the elimination gains made in Asia Pacific do not go to waste with threats to progress being left unaddressed. Sustaining malaria surveillance as part of the broader health system will be critical, in China and other elimination countries, to prevent the reintroduction of malaria and keep Asia Pacific malaria-free. APLMA and APMEN stand committed, together and with key stakeholders across the region, to make the preventable burden of communicable disease a thing of the past.

For more information please go to: Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance