29 May, 2023
Between the 23rd of April and the 5th of May, the GenRe-Mekong team visited several partner sites in 5 provinces in southern Laos, including Savannakhet, Salavan, Sekong, Attapue, and Champasak. The purpose of the visit was to strengthen partnership between local health authorities and the GenRe-Mekong team and to provide retraining on the collection of parasitized dried blood samples, which are essential for the analysis of regional antimalarial resistance. Given the recent intake of new healthcare professionals and the establishment of new sites, retraining was necessary to ensure adherence to correct procedures and uphold high standards.
Dr. Olivo Miotto, the principal investigator of the GenRe-Mekong project, along with two other core team members (Miss Supaporn Mahaphontrakoon and Mister Ethan Booth) went for the site visits. Joining us were two of our local coordinators from LOMWRU (Laos-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome-Research Unit) and provincial representatives of Center for Malariology, Parasitology, and Entomology (CMPE), the Laotian national malaria control program (NMCP) who arranged all the site visits.
On April 23rd, the GenRe-Mekong team flew to Sakonnakorn and crossed the Mekong River from Mukdahan into Savannakhet province, where they received a warm welcome from the provincial health director and administrator. Over the course of two weeks, the team visited provincial hospitals, district hospitals, and local health centers in each province, covering a total of 51 partner sites.
The training consisted of providing knowledge on the importance of antimalarial resistance surveillance, explanation of the different components of the blood sample collection kit and the corresponding sample manifests and demonstrating how to collect samples as well as how to record survey data. Proper blood sample collection and meticulous record keeping are crucial for high-quality sequencing and subsequent data analysis. The dried blood spots and epidemiological data are used to assess the prevalence of antimalarial resistance and factors related to malaria incidence.
One of the most striking things the team noticed was how few malaria cases there were. The majority of sites reported their last cases in 2022, with some sites reporting their last cases in 2020 and 2021. In addition, most sites’ cases were vivax malaria with only a couple of sites in Sekong and Attapeu reporting falciparum malaria.
The National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) in Laos has achieved significant success in malaria control, employing effective ‘accelerator’ strategies and utilising antimalarial genetic surveillance to guide decisions on drug policy. GenRe-Mekong will continue to provide timely and actionable knowledge on the parasite population to support the NMCP's decision-making in malaria elimination efforts. With the NMCP's ongoing dedication, Laos aims to eliminate Plasmodium falciparum by the end of 2023.
Article by: Ethan Booth & Varanya Wasakul