PAHO and CAF sign agreement to strengthen malaria response in Amazon border regions

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and CAF Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding today to strengthen malaria control activities in the Amazon border regions of Bolivia, Brazil and Peru.

The aim of the agreement is to address some of the main barriers to achieving malaria elimination in border areas of the Region, including through strengthening the exchange of experiences between countries.

“PAHO welcomes this collaboration with CAF to ensure that all populations in the Americas benefit from the latest advances in malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment,” PAHO Director Dr. Jarbas Barbosa said. “Working with border areas is key to tackling malaria at the regional level and advancing the objectives of the Disease Elimination Initiative.”

“At CAF, we are committed to promoting sustainable development and improving the quality of life in the region,” said Sergio Díaz-Granados, Executive President of CAF. “This partnership with PAHO represents a vital step in addressing health inequities in vulnerable, Amazon border communities of Bolivia, Brazil and Peru ensuring no one is left behind in the fight against malaria.”

The cooperation between the two Organizations will focus on the following initiatives:

• Identifying the main barriers to ensuring swift diagnosis and treatment of malaria;
• Training community health workers and primary health personnel on the use of rapid diagnostic tests;
• Expanding local detection, diagnosis and response networks;
• Community engagement activities
• Strengthening the exchange of epidemiological information between countries in border areas.

When it comes to malaria elimination, the border areas of Amazonian countries constitute some of the greatest challenges in the Region of the Americas. This is primarily due to difficulties accessing some of the areas’ more remote, Indigenous populations, as well as high levels of population movement, and challenges coordinating joint actions across countries.

The Indigenous populations of the Amazon are among those most affected by malaria. In 2023, 31% of all malaria cases and 41% of deaths occurred among these groups.

Malaria is an acute febrile disease caused by the parasite Plasmodium, which is transmitted by the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. Symptoms include fever, headache and chills, which may be mild. Left untreated, malaria can progress to severe illness and even death.

Malaria cases in the Americas are primarily driven by high-burden countries in South America, where Indigenous communities and mobile populations are the most affected. In 2023, countries of the Region reported over 505,000 cases of malaria, of which approximately 70% were detected in territories of the Amazon basin shared by 8 countries.

Malaria is one of the diseases addressed by PAHO’s Disease Elimination Initiative, which seeks to eliminate over 30 diseases and related conditions from the Region by 2030.