AKU, Local and Global Partners Launch Landmark Malaria Elimination Project in Thatta

The Aga Khan University (AKU) marked World Malaria Day with the launch of the Thatta Malaria Elimination Plan (TMEP), a pioneering project designed to eliminate malaria from one of Pakistan’s most malaria-affected regions. In 2023 alone, Thatta reported over 10,000 cases — the highest burden in the country.

Malaria continues to be a global health crisis, with 247 million cases and 619,000 deaths reported worldwide. In the South-East Asia region, Pakistan remains a significant contributor to ongoing transmission, with 95% of the country’s population at risk. The disease not only places immense pressure on the health system but has severe repercussion on the nation’s social and economic development.

“This is not just a health issue,” said Prof. M. Asim Beg, Principal Investigator and TMEP Project Lead. “It’s a multidimensional challenge driven by socioeconomic vulnerabilities, post-flood consequences, limited healthcare access, and climatic changes that allow the disease to thrive. Thatta is an ideal region to pilot diverse intervention strategies.”

The launch event also introduced the Malaria Elimination Consortium, established by AKU in 2023 to support the national elimination strategy. The Consortium laid the foundation for the TMEP as a locally grounded, data-driven response to malaria elimination. The TMEP’s vision is ambitious – to transform Thatta into a malaria-free zone and create a replicable, sustainable model for elimination that can be scaled across Sindh, Pakistan, and other malaria-endemic regions globally.

Led by AKU, the Plan was established in collaboration with the Government of Pakistan, the Government of Sindh, and the Directorate of Malaria Control. It is also backed by several international partners including GLIDE, Zenysis Technologies, and Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Together, they bring financial resources, data and technology expertise, and global insights to the project.

The TMEP is also strengthening collaboration between national, provincial, and district-level actors, setting the stage for future scale-up across the country. Dr Azra Pechuho, Sindh’s Minister for Health and Patron-in-Chief of the project, praised the partnership saying, “The Government of Sindh is proud to support this incredible initiative, which has the potential to uplift suffering communities across Sindh.”

The Plan will also integrate findings from the international EFFORT clinical trial, which introduced novel treatment options for malaria. These new methods hold strong potential in solving one of malaria’s longstanding challenges in Pakistan – treatment abandonment. Dr Salim Virani, Vice Provost Research at AKU, shared, “What made this trial unique was our commitment to testing treatment options as close to real-world conditions as possible. Conducted in Karachi and Thatta — two malaria hotspots — the trial found that two new treatments dramatically reduced recurrence rates. One treatment in particular – a single-dose of Tafenoquine – shows great promise for malaria control in Pakistan.”

The Thatta Malaria Elimination Plan aligns perfectly with this year’s World Malaria Day theme “Malaria Ends With Us: Reinvest, Reimagine, Reignite.” The project also aims to achieve a strengthened health system with increased capacity for malaria diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance and a greater community involvement in malaria prevention and control, leading to long-term behavioral change and ownership at the grassroots level.