Third annual Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network meeting
The third annual meeting of the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) was held May 9-12, 2011 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. The meeting celebrated the on-going efforts within the region to reduce the scourge of malaria, to share experiences on how countries are working towards elimination of malaria, and work collaboratively on projects in research, capacity building, and advocacy. In attendance were 80 representatives from the 11 Country Partners and research and partner institutions from the region, including the World Health Organization (WHO). Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vanuatu were represented as partner countries. Vietnam, Cambodia and Nepal attended as meeting observers.
The meeting took place in the state of Sabah on the island of Borneo, where impressive progress is being made towards elimination. Malaysia has one of the world's oldest malaria control programmes, dating back to the pioneering work in Klang, Kuala Lumpur and Penang by Sir Malcolm Watson in 1901. In 1967 the nationwide eradication programme was almost successful in eliminating malaria from the country but transmission persisted in areas of deep forest in Sabah and Sarawak.
Read the APMEN III meeting media release >