Driven by new ‘accelerator’ strategies to eliminate the disease, malaria cases in Lao PDR have plummeted from an estimated 462 000 in 1997 to 2305 in 2022. Twenty five years ago, cases were rampant.
Disruption of employment and education brought significant economic consequences. Thousands of lives were lost, and tens of thousands more were devastated by the disease’s long-term impacts.
More recently, immense progress has been made by the Ministry of Health and partners, with Lao PDR aiming to eliminate Plasmodium falciparum – the deadliest of the 5 malaria parasites – by the end of 2023.
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