A two-day workshop on malaria data sharing and planning was organized by the American Refugee Committee (ARC), a sub-recipient under the Regional Artemisinin-resistance Initiative (RAI) grant at the State General Hospital in Pa-an, Kayin State.

The aim was to promote a well-coordinated and concerted approach among all partners implementing RAI activities.

The workshop was chaired by the Karen Department of Health Welfare (KDHW). The opening speeches were delivered by the Kayin State Government, Karen National Union and Dr Faisal Mansoor, Head of Programme Unit, UNOPS.

 The purpose of the workshop was to present the progress in implementation and field experiences, and to brief RAI stakeholders on updates, emerging issues and lessons learnt during the first two years (2014–2015) of RAI grant implementation in Myanmar.

The workshop also provided a platform to brief the National Malaria Control Programme and RAI partners on the current coverage of RAI activities, as well as to identify overlapping areas and collectively come forward with solutions to avoid duplication of efforts, and strengthen malaria data recording and reporting systems.

In his keynote address, Dr Mansoor stressed the importance of further strengthening RAI partnerships and expanding coverage to meet the healthcare needs of hard-to-reach populations in remote areas.

“We greatly appreciate the strong participation of the implementing RAI SRs, local authorities, representatives of the local communities, United Nations agencies and other donors. This collaboration and coordination among RAI partners will strengthen partnerships. We have taken a significant step towards achieving the RAI goal,” concluded Dr Mansoor.

The workshop provided an opportunity to discuss implementation best practices to further strengthen coordination and collaboration among RAI partners. Participants included local authorities from the Kayin State Government, the Karen National Union (KNU), partners from WHO, UNICEF, Principal Recipient, USAID, Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU), Community Partners International (CPI), Medical Action Myanmar (MAM), KBC/CAP Malaria, University of Maryland (UMB) and Malaria Consortium, as well as community representatives from the eight districts of Kayin State.

The goal of the RAI is to avert the spread of artemisinin-resistant malaria and accelerate the elimination of P. falciparum malaria in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

The two-day workshop included presentations, interactive discussions and group work on implementation best practices and expanding coverage to hard-to-reach populations who most need the malaria prevention, care and treatment services.

It also provided an opportunity to discuss best practices for collecting dried blood samples for qPCR analysis to detect drug-resistant malaria parasites, improving reporting methods for efficient malaria data sharing and planning, and identifying funding and technical assistance needs to further expand coverage of RAI malaria activities.