The Federal Government has announced that Australia will host a high-level conference in October to help combat the growing challenge of malaria.

 

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bob Carr, announced the Malaria 2012 Saving Lives in the Asia Pacific conference while attending the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Cambodia last week.

 

"The conference will provide an opportunity for Asia-Pacific leaders to build on our successes, protect the gains and further develop regional responses to malaria,” Senator Carr said.

 

"Despite recent progress in tackling malaria, there are still more than 200 million malaria cases globally, with around 30 million cases in our region.”

 

Malaria 2012 will be held over three days in Sydney from 31 October – 2 November 2012. Representatives from governments and development partners across Asia and the Pacific will attend the conference along with leading health and development experts.