For two years, Nan Has K’nyaw Soe has worked as a community volunteer to fight malaria in An Pa Gyi village in Kawkareik Township. She tests an average of 20 people per month, covering a total of 100 households in her area.

Nan Has K’nyaw Soe has been trained by Community Partners International (CPI) and the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW), both 3MDG partners. She also provides health education to increase knowledge about the disease. “The villagers are now aware of the malaria-related risks and consequences,” she explains, and adds: “Everybody is willing to get tested.”

Nan Has K’nyaw Soe knows that in order to stop the spread of malaria, and contain its drug-resistant form, treating every patient – preferably within the first 24 hours – is the key to success. If not treated quickly, malaria can progress to severe illness, sometimes even leading to death.

In Nan Has K’nyaw Soe’s village, nobody has died of malaria since she started her voluntary work. Yet malaria remains a serious health problem in Myanmar and a leading cause of illness especially in poor rural areas, including many townships in Kayin State.

In remote areas, accessing malaria services can be difficult; roads are impassable during the rainy season, and at other times patients cannot afford transport. Parts of Kayin have been affected by conflict for several decades, which has a direct impact on health.

“Conflict and displacement exacerbates the spread of disease.  People are forced to find ways to survive first and that impacts the kind of resources and information available to undertake appropriate control measures to prevent illness. This is why it’s important to understand the context in the more vulnerable areas of Myanmar,” Dr. Sandee Pyne, the Chief Executive Officer of CPI points out.

The emergence of artemisinin-resistant malaria is a particular concern in the region. Artemisinin is the most important anti-malarial drug, but now some areas in Southeast Asia are becoming fully resistant to it. “Artemisinin-resistance spread from Cambodia to Myanmar, and we don’t want it to move further to India or even Africa. So it’s now about containing the disease, there is a need to work together,” Dr. M. Myat Kyaw Marta, a senior consultant from the KDHW says.

3MDG is supporting these efforts with a project called Community Leaders Eliminating Artemisinin Resistance Malaria (CLEAR Malaria), covering in total 15 townships in five different states with the help of multiple partners. The main purpose of the project is to improve access to early diagnosis and quality treatment for malaria, and also to help contain artemisinin resistance through advocacy and communication.

For KDHW Director Saw Eh Kalu Shwe Oo, the goal is crystal clear: “We want to eradicate malaria in our area,” he says. The CLEAR project is making steady steps towards that goal, with 129,000 people tested since the project began in September 2013 to June of this year, and almost 13,000 people treated for confirmed cases.

In Kayin State, 3MDG partners covered 55 percent of the population as of June 2016, and these efforts form part of 3MDG’s wider commitment to the fight against malaria and its drug-resistant form in Myanmar.