Malaria Policy Advisory Committee to the WHO: conclusions and recommendations of seventh biannual meeting (March 2015)

WHO Malaria Policy Advisory Committee and Secretariat Malar J (2015) 14:295 DOI 10.1186/s12936-015-0787-z Open Access MEETING REPORT Malaria Policy Advisory Committee to the WHO: conclusions and recommendations of seventh biannual meeting (March 2015) WHO Malaria Policy Advisory Committee and Secretariat* Abstract The Malaria Policy Advisory Committee to the World Health Organization held its seventh meeting in Geneva, Switzerland from 5 to 7 March 2015. This article provides a summary of the discussions, conclusions and meeting recommendations. Meeting sessions included: an update on the Greater Mekong Subregion elimination strategy; an update on the RTS,S vaccine; G6PD testing to support the safe use of anti-relapse therapy for Plasmodium vivax; update from the Vector Control Advisory Group; newly proposed evidence reviews or consultations on malaria terminology, malaria in pregnancy, and the feasibility of eradication; as well as updates from the World Health Organization Global Malaria Programme regarding their strategy update and policy setting processes. Policy statements, position statements, and guidelines that arise from the Malaria Policy Advisory Committee meeting conclusions and recommendations will be formally issued and disseminated to World Health Organization Member States by the World Health Organization Global Malaria Programme. Keywords: WHO, Malaria, Policy-making, Mosquito control, Drug resistance, Surveillance, Elimination, Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax Background The Malaria Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC) to the WHO held its seventh biannual meeting from 5 to 7 March 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland, following its meetings in February and September 2012, March and September 2013, and March and September 2014 [1–6]. This article provides a summary of the discussions, conclusions and recommendations from that meetinga as part of the Malaria Journal thematic series “WHO global malaria recommendations” [7]. The following sections of this article provide details and references for the meeting sessions on: an update on the Greater Mekong Subregion elimination strategy; an update on the RTS,S vaccine; G6PD testing to support the safe use of anti-relapse therapy for Plasmodium vivax; update from the Vector Control Advisory Group; newly proposed evidence reviews or consultations on *Correspondence: Global Malaria Programme, World Health Organization, 20 Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland malaria terminology, malaria in pregnancy, and the feasibility of eradication; as well as updates from the WHO Global Malaria Programme (WHO-GMP) regarding their strategy update and policy setting process. The MPAC discussion and recommendations related to these topics, which took place partially in closed session, are also included. MPAC decisions are reached by consensus [8]. The next meeting of the MPAC will be 16–18 September 2015 [9]. Report from the WHO Global Malaria Programme Following a welcome by the chair of MPAC, the Director of WHO-GMP gave an overview of the key findings of the World Malaria Report 2014 [10]. He provided an update about WHO-GMP’s activities over the past 6 months and the key programme priorities being pursued in WHO regions [11]. Over this period, WHO-GMP issued a number of new technical documents, including guidance on temporary malaria control measures in Ebola-affected countries [12]. © 2015 WHO Malaria Policy Advisory Committee and Secretariat. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. WHO Malaria Policy Advisory Committee and Secretariat Malar J (2015) 14:295 Following the update from the Director of WHO-GMP, the Executive Director of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership gave an update about the process for finalizing RBM’s Action and Investment to Defeat Malaria (2016–2030) [13], which will be a companion document to the new WHO Global Technical Strategy for Malaria (2016–2030) [14]. Development of the two documents has been closely coordinated through seven regional consultations, and the documents have the same goals, milestones and targets. The RBM Executive Director explained that in addition to the regional consultations, the draft RBM document has been reviewed in 12 national consultations, and was shaped through over 120 interviews with key informants. She summarized the seven key priorities established in the draft document, which should drive future efforts to strengthen political commitment, financial resources and the enabling environment for malaria efforts [15]. MPAC welcomed plans by WHO-GMP and RBM to work with countries on translating the new global guidance documents into action at the national level, and highlighted the importance of providing technical support to ensure that national malaria plans are updated and implemented in a timely manner. Malaria elimination in the Greater Mekong Subregion The WHO Regional Malaria Advisors from the South East Asian and Western Pacific Regional Offices jointly presented an update on the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Malaria Elimination Strategy (following the recommendation by MPAC at its previous meeting in September 2014 [6] to adopt a Plasmodium falciparum elimination goal in the GMS by 2030 in order to contain multiple foci of artemisinin resistance). The strategy has been drafted under the leader-ship of the WHO Regional Hub for the Emergency Response to Artemisinin Resistance (ERAR), the two Regional Offices concerned (SEARO and WPRO) and WHO-GMP. The update covered: (a) the strategy development process; (b) the proposed goals and targets; and (c) the recommended strategic directions to scale up efforts in order to achieve malaria elimination of all parasite species by 2030. WHO also presented options for a governance structure that could drive efforts forward in a more effective way [16]. Overall, MPAC was supportive of the draft strategy and agreed with the proposed regional and country priorities. The committee noted, however, that the urgency of the response should be emphasized more strongly, consideration should be given to accelerating the timelines, and there should be a more pronounced mention of the need for national political commitment at the highest level. MPAC also discussed the importance of multi-sectoral engagement, the need to clarify the role of “governance” Page 2 of 6 and “management”, and the need to position countries as the main drivers of this effort. The committee also raised the idea of crea (...truncated)