Bhutan now plans to eliminate malaria by next year, after the country failed to meet its target to eliminate the disease last year. Addressing the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Leaders Dialogue today, Foreign Minister Dr Tandi Dorji said the pandemic pushed the elimination plans for Bhutan. The malaria surveillance was restricted as a result of lockdown in the border areas.
After failing to achieve zero indigenous cases meaning local transmission in 2018, the health ministry revised its target to 2020. Bhutan had to reset elimination target twice.
According to the World Health Organization, for a country to achieve a malaria-free status, it has to maintain zero indigenous malaria cases for three consecutive years.
“Our past experiences in malaria control have shown that the last remaining mile of elimination phase is the most challenging one. It is therefore extremely critical that the global, regional and national malaria programs take into account the lessons from the past and accordingly leverage it to overcome the last mile challenge,” said Foreign Minister Dr Tandi Dorji.
Bhutan has achieved malaria decline from over 40,000 cases in 1994 to just two in 2019. However, the country saw 22 indigenous cases last year. Health Minister Dechen Wangmo said cross-border transmission of malaria including dengue fever is one of the major challenges in controlling the seasonal outbreaks in the country.
“One key component of the malaria elimination is the cross-border elimination, having a very good surveillance system in place. I know the surveillance system we have for COVID has really paid off and I know lot of my health worker who has put in lots of their extra time and effort into building this surveillance system,” said Health Minister Dechen Wangmo.
“So, similarly for malaria, it is only building onto the existing system and addressing the existing gap within the surveillance system. So, we must have a robust surveillance system towards elimination target.”
After the Maldives and Sri Lanka, no country in the South-East Asian region has been able to eliminate malaria. Malaria elimination is a global agenda and all the countries are gearing towards achieving zero malaria by 2030.
Pema Seldon Tshering
Edited by Sonam Pem
