The World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WHO-WPRO) recently published a report presenting the results of an independent external review of the performance and achievements of Viet Nam’s National Malaria Control Programme. The review also serves as a public health management tool for countries that wish to strengthen their malaria control programme performance and systems.

The report highlights how the programme has made significant progress towards eliminating malaria in recent years. Viet Nam has made impressive gains in malaria control and is on track to meet its vision to eliminate malaria by 2030. This has been made possible through the strong commitment and substantial investments of the Government of Viet Nam and its development partners.

However, the country still has challenges to face in order to completely eliminate malaria. The disease is concentrated in vulnerable populations living in hard-to-reach areas, access to diagnosis and treatment needs to be expanded, and artemisinin-resistant malaria is spreading. Thus, continued action is essential, as is the urgent attention of policy-makers, development partners and the public.

The report provides recommendations to support the reorientation of the Programme’s approach from malaria control to malaria elimination, including developing an updated national action plan for malaria elimination, introducing verification of subnational malaria elimination, sustaining national financing for malaria elimination and integrating malaria surveillance activities into other communicable disease surveillance activities.

For more information, please download the report here.

Photo credits: © WHO/Y. Shimizu