Myanmar Regional Center of Excellence for Malaria Research

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OVERVIEW Myanmar Regional Center of Excellence for Malaria Research Shortly before NIAID announced the ICEMR program in 2009, artemisinin-resistant falciparum malaria appeared in Southeast Asia [1,2], posing a serious threat to global malaria control and elimination [3,4]. As a leading center for research on the emergence and spread of drug resistant malaria in Africa [5-9], our group was asked by the World Health Organization (WHO) and regional partners to help design and lead a series of clinical and genomic epidemiology studies to identify and validate molecular markers for artemisinin resistance in Asia [10-15]. Based in part on our findings about the patterns of emergence and spread of artemisinin resistance in the region [14], in 2015 the WHO abandoned its strategy of trying to contain artemisinin resistance, and the World Health Assembly approved a new WHO recommendation to launch a campaign to completely eliminate falciparum malaria in Southeast Asia [16]. Along with other countries at the 2015 East Asia Summit, Myanmar, the emerging democracy formerly known as Burma, and the Southeast Asian country with by far the greatest malaria burden [17], endorsed a plan for malaria elimination in the region by 2030. To achieve this daunting goal, innovative tools are needed for malaria surveillance, treatment and prevention. Because the heaviest concentrations of malaria in Myanmar and neighboring countries are found in border and conflict areas that are often out of reach of national health systems, malaria elimination—and malaria research in support of elimination—requires a multi-sectoral, cross-border approach. Building on the foundation of a successful malaria research program that we created in Myanmar in 2012 with NIAID grant support, and working closely with local and regional partners, we now propose to establish a new ICEMR centered in Myanmar, with sites in central Myanmar and on both sides of its borders with China and Bangladesh. Integrating findings from clinical and field research, including molecular surveillance, genomic epidemiology and geospatial mapping and modeling of malaria risk, we will conduct innovative multidisciplinary research that will provide essential knowledge, tools, and evidence-based strategies for national malaria control programs and their partners to control, treat and ultimately eliminate malaria in Southeast Asia.