WHO urges scaling up measures to counter artemisinin resistance

Following growing evidence that resistance has now emerged in southern and central Viet Nam and in southeastern Myanmar, the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific issued a press statement following its September annual meeting warning that control measures in the region need to be stepped up. Regional Director Dr Shin Young-soo emphasized the need to "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".