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By Benjamin Rolfe
Update
1st of July 2018 08:51:15
Epidemics such as the Ebola virus are truly terrifying.
We normally badociate them with exotics and strangers – UN emergency workers parading through African dust in combinations of dangerous biological products, fighting a back-and-forth action guard against a mysterious enemy.
However, just 150 kilometers north of Australia, a more familiar outbreak is developing. An old parasite spreads faster than any other time of the century.
In Papua New Guinea, malaria is resurging with vengeance. An estimated 1.4 million cases of malaria in the country in 2016, representing an increase of 400%, according to the World Health Organization; 3000 people died.
Nearly 60% of malaria cases in Papua New Guinea involve children under the age of 15 and too many do not survive the attacks.
A little further north, malaria is turning into dangerous new strains. In the Greater Mekong subregion, malaria parasites are developing resistance to the main drug, artemisinin-based combination therapy.
In parts of Cambodia, 60% of malaria treatments are hindered; in parts of Vietnam, the rate is 30% and is increasing rapidly.
There are very few "combination drugs" to treat malaria in the region and time is running out.
Malaria will soon become incurable
If drug-resistant malaria spreads across Myanmar in India and Africa, the global toll of deaths would be immense.
A drug that saves lives in the pipeline
Medicine provides new hope
A revolutionary drug, tafenoquine, is being reviewed by the Australian Therapeutic Products Authority.
This drug provides a radical cure for recurrent malaria, from the current dose of 12 to a single tablet.
Malaria recurrence accounts for half of the burden of malaria in Asia-Pacific, so draining this reservoir of infection is an important step towards the elimination of malaria. His probable approval would be particularly useful in the Pacific.
The Commonwealth recently announced a major investment in drug approval systems across the Asia-Pacific. By sharing its technical expertise, Australia can help make Tafenoquine available where it is needed. This will lead to faster medication such as tafenoquine.
Rapid diagnostic tests are the other aspect of the equation of innovation, making it possible to diagnose a potential case in less than 15 minutes. Australia helps to make them available, but we can and should accelerate progress
Australians Are Not Immune
In the rich and developed countries of Australia, it is comforting to think that we are immune to such epidemics. However, in a connected world on a global scale, this could be an imprudent badumption. Last September, for example, a four-year-old girl died of cerebral malaria in northern Italy.
Every year, we do not eliminate malaria, another year of unmet human and economic potential.
The effect of malaria on education, training and productivity in our own region is an economic deadweight for our collective prosperity. The elimination of malaria from the Asia Pacific region by 2030 will save money on health care costs, lost wages and productivity of about $ 90 billion. A study on Latin America and the United States showed that the average annual income of people born after malaria eradication campaigns increased by about 25% on a comparable basis.
It is in our interest to maintain progress towards the elimination of malaria.
Australia's leadership saves lives
Australia's commitment to fighting the world's deadliest animal, the mosquito, is also political. In 2014, Australia led 18 governments to commit to eliminating malaria by 2030. Since then, domestic funding for these countries has increased by 40%. This is a neglected advantage of intelligent help.
When rich nations show leadership, they galvanize others.
More recently, Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop supported Australia's commitment to eradicate malaria by joining the End Malaria Council of London. Again, this galvanized and led Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to accelerate their efforts to eradicate malaria by 2030. While global funding sources will gradually withdraw from the region , Australian leadership is particularly important.
In the first week of July, Melbourne will host the World Congress on Malaria. As we tackle this millennial disease, we must harden our scientific, financial and political will to eradicate malaria definitively
Dr. Benjamin Rolfe is the Executive Director of the Alliance of Regional Leaders Asia-Pacific against malaria.
malaria,
diseases and disorders,
medical research,
health,
community-and-society,
science and technology,
Australia,
Papua New Guinea,
Vietnam,
Cambodia,
Solomon Islands,
peaceful
Published
July 1st 2018 05:00:00
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