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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XI - 2019

Introduction

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by protozoa of the genus
Plasmodium. Malaria infection has existed for thousands of years and is one of the
top ten killers in the history of mankind. During the 18 -19 century, malaria
th
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affected over 300–500 million cases and killed over 3–5 million people per year.
During the last two decades, the global prevalence of malaria has continued to
decline as a result of global research efforts aimed at improving early diagnosis,
timely treatment, and effective prevention of malaria. The worldwide use of
fast-acting artemisinin drugs, urbanization, and other community control
measures play major roles in the malaria reduction. The global malaria prevalence
per 10,000 population declined from 16.6 in 2010 to 10.6 in 2018 and the mortality
rate decreased in many regions, in particular, Southeast Asia (Figure 1). Malaria
in Thailand has been well controlled. The total number of cases has decreased to
less than 10,000 cases for the past 3 years (Figure 2). This decrease in malaria cases
has created an opportunity to eliminate malaria from Thailand. Since 2007 Bill
and Malinda Gates, the World Health Organization and other institutions have
jointly aimed for a malaria-free world.

In the last few years, since 2015, the earlier steady decline in global malaria
prevalence has slowed. The 2019 World Malaria Report revealed that malaria
remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in tropical regions with
262 million new cases and 500,000 deaths. Two of the major obstacles to malaria
eradication are the development of artemisinin resistance in P. falciparum and
insecticidal resistance in the mosquito vector. Artemisinin-resistant P. falciparum
that first detected in Cambodia in 2007, is currently spreading in many countries in

Southeast Asia. The recent slowdown and delayed success of malaria elimination
requires continuous and resilient measures for malaria control. This article reviews
the past and present global efforts to eliminate malaria and recently published
research by the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, that contributes
to the control and elimination of malaria.

12 Precision Tools for Malaria Control and Mahidol University’s
Research on the Malaria Elimination

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