Malaria Site: Malaria In Asia

Country	Malaria Risk	Species
Afghanistan	Risk in all areas at altitudes lower than 2000 meters from April to December	P. vivax and P. falciparum
Bahrain	No malaria
Bangladesh	All areas except city of Dhaka	P. vivax and P. falciparum
Bhutan	Risk in the southern belt of five districts: Chirang, Samchi, Samdrupjongkhar, Sarpang, and Shemgang.	P. vivax and P. falciparum
Brunei Darussalam	No risk
Burma (Myanmar)	Rural only. No risk in cities of Yangon and Mandalay (Throughout the year in Karen State; March to December in Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Mon, Rakhine and Shan states, Pegu Division, and Hlegu, Hmawbi, and Taikkyi townships of Yangon Division; April to December in the rural areas of Tenasserim Division; May to December in Irrawaddy Division and the rural areas of Mandalay Division; June to November in the rural areas of Magwe Division, and in Sagaing Division)	Predominantly due to P. falciparum; also P. vivax
Cambodia	All areas including Angkor Wat temple complex; no risk in Phnom Penh and around Lake Tonle Sap	Predominantly due to P. falciparum; also P. vivax
China	Risk in rural areas of Hainan, Yunnan, Fuijan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Tibet (in the Zangbo River Valley only), Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Shanghai and Zhejiang provinces. Transmission during warm weather (North of 33° N: July to November; between 33° N to 25° N: May to December; south of 25° N: year-round); No malaria risk in urban areas nor in the densely populated plain areas. For a map, visit: http://www.actmalaria.org/downloads/pdf/info/2004/China.pdf	P. falciparum as well as P. vivax
China - Hong Kong	No risk in urban areas; limited risk in extremely rural areas	P. falciparum as well as P. vivax

Country	Malaria Risk	Species
China - Macao	No risk
Cyprus	No risk
East Timor	All areas	Predominantly P. falciparum
India	All areas lower than 2,000 meters (that excludes some parts of the states of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, Kashmir, and Sikkim)	P. vivax (80%); P. falciparum (20%)
Indonesia	All areas including Irian Jaya, temple complex of Borobudur on Java and rural areas of remainder of the islands. No risk in Jakarta Municipality, big cities and resorts in Java, Sumatra and Bali	P. falciparum and P. vivax
Iran	P. vivax in some areas north of the Zagros mountains and in western and south-western regions during the summer months; P. falciparum in rural areas of Sistan-Baluchestan, Kerman (southern tropical part) and Hormozgan Provinces during March to November	P. falciparum and P. vivax
Iraq	Areas in the north below 1500 m - Provinces of Duhok, Erbil, Ninawa, Sulaimaniya, Támim, and Basrah	Only P. vivax
Israel	Free from malaria
Japan	No risk
Jordan	No risk
Korea, DPR (North)	Limited risk in some southern areas	Only P. vivax
Country	Malaria Risk	Species
Korea, Republic (South)	Risk limited to Demilitarized Zone and to rural areas in the northern parts of Kyonggi Do and Gangwon Do Provinces	Only P. vivax
Kuwait	No risk
Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos)	All areas except the city of Vientiane	Mostly P. falciparum
Lebanon	No risk
Malaysia	Risk limited to rural areas; no risk in urban and coastal areas	P. falciparum
Maldives	No risk
Mongolia	No risk
Nepal	Rural areas in the Terai and Hill Districts of Bara, Dhanukha, Kapilvastu, Mahotari, Parsa, Rautahat, Rupendehi and Sarlahi, and especially along the Indian border; at altitudes lower than 1,200 meters; no risk in Kathmandu and typical Himalayan treks	Predominantly due to P. vivax, also P. falciparum
Oman	Limited risk in remote areas of Musandam Province; no cases since 2001	P. falciparum
Pakistan	All areas, including the cities, at altitudes lower than 2,000 meters	P. falciparum (~60%), P. vivax (~40%)
Philippines	Throughout the year in areas below 600 m, rural areas and Subic Bay; no risk in the provinces of Aklan, Bilaran, Bohol, Capiz Catanduanes, Cebu, Guimaras, Iloilo, Leyte, Masbate, northern Samar, Sequijor and metropolitan Manila as well as urban areas or in the plains	Predominantly P. falciparum; Also P. vivax
Qatar	No risk
Saudi Arabia	Throughout the year in most of the Southern Region - Jizan province (except in the high-altitude areas of Asir Province) and in certain rural areas of the Western Region; no risk in cities of Jeddah, Mecca, Medina and Taif.	Predominantly P. falciparum
Singapore	No risk
Sri Lanka	Risk in all areas except the districts of Colombo, Galle Kalutara, and Nuwara Eliya	P. vivax (87%), P. falciparum (13%)
Syrian Arab Republic	Limited risk from May to October in foci along the northern border, especially in the north-eastern part of the country (in El Hassaka province)	Only P. vivax
Country	Malaria Risk	Species
Taiwan	No risk
Thailand	Limited risk throughout the year in rural, especially forested and hilly areas of the whole country, mainly towards the international borders with Cambodia, Laos, and Burma. No risk in cities and major tourist resorts like Bangkok, Chiangmai, Pattaya, Phuket, Samui	P. vivax and P. falciparum
Turkey	Risk from May to October in the south-eastern parts and in Amikova and Çukurova Plain. No risk in the main tourist areas in the west and south-west of the country	Only P. vivax
United Arab Emirates	No risk
Vietnam	All areas except urban centres, the Red River delta, and the coastal plain areas of central Viet Nam. High-risk areas are the provinces of Dak Lak, Gia Lai and Kon Tum, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, and Tay Ninh; no risk in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Qui Nhon and Haiphong	Predominantly P. falciparum
Yemen	All areas at altitudes lower than 2,000 meters; no risk in Sana'a	Predominantly P. falciparum

The documented history of malaria in parts of Asia goes back more than 2,000 years, during which the disease has been a major player on the socioeconomic stage in many nation states as they waxed and waned in power and prosperity. On a much shorter time scale, the last half century has seen in microcosm a history of large fluctuations in endemicity and impact of malaria across the spectrum of rice fields and rain forests, mountains and plains that reflect the vast ecological diversity inhabited by this majority aggregation of mankind. That period has seen some of the most dramatic changes in social and economic structure, in population size, density and mobility, and in political structure in history: all have played a part in the changing face of malaria in this extensive region of the world. While the majority of global malaria cases currently reside in Africa, greater numbers inhabited Asia earlier this century before malaria programs savored significant success, and now Asia harbors a global threat in the form of the epicenter of multi-drug resistant Plasmodium falciparum which is gradually encompassing the tropical world. The latter reflects directly the vicissitudes of economic change over recent decades, particularly the mobility of populations in search of commerce, trade and personal fortunes, or caught in the misfortunes of physical conflicts. The period from the 1950s to the 1990s has witnessed near ''eradication'' followed by resurgence of malaria in Sri Lanka, control and resurgence in India, the influence of war and postwar instability on drug resistance in Cambodia, increase in severe and cerebral malaria in Myanmar during prolonged political turmoil, the essential disappearance of the disease from all but forested border areas of Thailand where it remains for the moment intractable, the basic elimination of vivax malaria from many provinces of central China. Both positive and negative experiences have lessons to teach in the debate between eradication and control as alternative strategies. China has for years held high the goal of ''basic elimination'', eradication by another name, in sensible semi-defiance of WHO dictates. The Chinese experience makes it clear that, given community organization, exhaustive attention to case detection, management and focus elimination, plus the political will at all levels of society, it is possible both to eliminate malaria from large areas of an expansive nation and to implement surveillance necessary to maintain something approaching eradication status in those areas. But China has not succeeded in the international border regions of the tropical south where unfettered population movement confounds the program. Thailand, Malaysia and to an extent Vietnam have also reached essential elimination in their rice field plains by vigorous vertical programs but fall short at their forested borders. Economics is central to the history of the rise and fall of nations, and to the history of disease in the people who constitute nations. The current love affair with free market economics as the main driving force for advance of national wealth puts severe limitations on the essential involvement of communities in malaria management. The task of malaria control or elimination needs to be clearly related to the basic macroeconomic process that preoccupies governments, not cloistered away in the health sector. Historically malaria has had a severe, measurable, negative impact on the productivity of nations. Economic models need re-honing with political aplomb and integrating with technical and demographic strategies. Recent decades in Chinese malaria history carry some lessons that may be relevant in this context. (Ecology, economics and political will: The vicissitudes of malaria strategies in Asia. Kidson C, Indaratna K, Parasitologia 1998 Jun 40:1-2 39-46).