Earlier this year troubling news emerged about a mounting threat to global malaria control and eradication efforts: resistance to front-line malaria drugs threatens to cross the mountainous border between Myanmar and India. If that happens, some speculate drug-resistant malaria could infiltrate the African continent and put millions of lives in jeopardy.
There is a more hopeful side to this story.
In Myanmar, a country rife with political conflict, torn by ethnic division and long-isolated from international cooperation, some hope controlling resistance and ultimately eradicating malaria could be the cause that catalyzes a new spirit of cooperation between the government and marginalized ethnic groups, between the military and civil society, and across political divides.