The World Health Organisation saidon September 27 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.
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 south-eastern Myanmar, the WHO said in a statement.
Drug-resistant malaria was found on the Thailand-Cambodia border eight years ago, and has since also been discovered along the Thailand-Myanmar border, according to scientists.
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."
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.
Drug-resistant malaria in Vietnam is mainly concentrated in three central and southern provinces, say health officials, adding that there are a number of key factors which make tackling the problem difficult in the communist country.