Figure 1: Malaria Team in Kunming Medical University, China

Author: Zhao-Qing Yang, MD, Ph.D.

In the Greater Mekong subregion, malaria epidemiology is characterized by immense geographical heterogeneity in disease distribution with many areas of high endemicity. Effective chemotherapy is essential for malaria control, but the emergence and spread of drug resistance in malaria parasites have led to a sharp rise in malaria-related morbidity and mortality. This situation is particularly grave in Southeast Asia, where multidrug-resistant (MDR) Plasmodium falciparum poses a major challenge to the control of malaria . Therefore, for effective and sustainable malaria management, resistance monitoring and mechanism studies are of high priority, particularly in the era of artemisinin-based combination therapy. Our work is focusing on the drugs resistance monitoring.