WHO urges action to stop spread of drug-resistant malaria in Vietnam, Myanmar

"The World Health Organization said Thursday that governments in the Mekong region must act 'urgently' to stop the spread of drug-resistant malaria which has emerged in parts of Vietnam and Myanmar," Agence France-Presse reports. "There is growing evidence that the malaria parasite is becoming resistant to a frontline treatment, the anti-malarial drug artemisinin, in southern and central Vietnam and in southeastern Myanmar, the WHO said in a statement," AFP writes, noting, "WHO regional director, Shin Young-soo, said countries must 'urgently address this issue before we put at risk not only the fragile gains we have made in malaria control but also our goal of a malaria-free Western Pacific Region.'" The news service adds, "Countries in the Mekong region must 'intensify and expand' operations to contain and eliminate artemisinin-resistant malaria, Shin said at a WHO regional meeting in Hanoi" (9/28).