An international team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, the Swiss Tropical Institute, the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation and the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases has discovered a promising new drug candidate that represents a new class of drug to treat malaria. Clinical trials for the compound are planned for later this year.

The vector control is currently o­ne of the important tasks in the national programme of dengue control. In orderto prevent dengue-transmitting mosquitoes effectively, it is necessary to have a timely grasp of the sensitivity and resistance of dengue vectors to insecticides in every region and the mosquito-killing effect of each chemical at various amounts, thereby giving proposals for and guidance o­n the use of insecticide suitable with every locality.

According to the statistics of malaria situation of Central Vietnam in the first half of 2010 compared with the same period of 2009, malaria patients increased by 13.16%, with the Central Coastal area 18.76% higher and the West Highlands 5.43%; malaria parasite rates raised by 56.42%, including the Central Coastal area 65.17% higher and the West Highlands 48.29% up; there were two deaths from malaria (one in Khanh Hoa and o­ne in Binh Thuan) with high risk of malaria outbreaks.

From January 2009 to June 2010, malaria indexes continuously increased; until July 2010, malaria hotspots in Central Vietnam was temporarily controlled. This can be considered as the initial efforts of health branches of the regional provinces and cities to roll back malaria. However, it is just a interim result because from now to the end of this year, Central Vietnam is coming into rainy season, which is also the peak season of malaria transmission.

From 2009 to now, especially in first 6 months of 2010, malaria situation increased continuously with high risk of outbreaks. However, the Institute of Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology Quy Nhon (IMPE Quy Nhon) has coordinated with the provincial health services to enhance the quality of malaria control, thereby decreasing malaria indexes and stabilizing malaria situation.

• Department of Preventive Medicine (MoH) and involved institutes inspecting and monitoring epidemic control activities in provinces of Central Vietnam (08/13/2010)
• 81% Of Malaria Cases In UK Residents Are From Visiting Friends And Family Abroad (08/12/2010)
• MoH setting up the mission teams for inspecting and supervising the prevention of dengue fever, cholera outbreaks and several summery epidemics in severely-hit areas (07/16/2010)
• The situation of malaria and parasitic diseases of Central Vietnam in May and first 5 months of 2010 (07/14/2010)
• MoH’s direction on strengthening malaria control in 2010 (07/13/2010)