Although a scale up of effective interventions has led to a reduction in global malaria mortality rates by nearly half since 2000, a number of challenges pose a serious threat to gains made.
One of the most concerning is growing resistance in Southeast Asia to artemisinin by the malaria parasite, according to the head of international nongovernmental organization Malaria Consortium. Eliminating malaria is the only way to get rid of drug-resistant malaria, but “our most effective drugs are under threat,” Charles Nelson, chief executive of the Malaria Consortium, told Devex.
“The big challenge with drug-resistant malaria is that when the resistance recurrence was happening in the past there was a plan B, a combination therapy that we could use,” Nelson explained. “The problem now is that plan B is becoming less viable and there is no current drug-based plan C available, so we have to stop transmission.”
About the author
Eva Donelli
As a correspondent based in Brussels, Eva Donelli covers EU development policy issues and actors, from the EU institutions to the international NGO community. Eva was previously at the United Nations Regional Information Center for Western Europe and in the European Parliament's press office. As a freelance reporter, she has contributed to Italian and international magazines covering a wide range of issues, including EU affairs, development policy, social protection and nuclear energy. She speaks fluent English, French and Spanish in addition to her native Italian.
