In Ban Naveng village in Champasak Province, Lao PDR, village malaria worker Li Thaong Souk instructs Oot, a malaria patient, about malaria prevention. Successful control efforts have largely eliminated malaria from villages, but people like Oot who go to the forest to earn income are still at risk. Village malaria workers have tests and drugs on hand to quickly treat anyone who shows symptoms.

Across the Greater Mekong Region, there was a 71% reduction in malaria cases from 2012 to 2017, and a 91% reduction in malaria deaths from 2012 to 2017. In the Greater Mekong region, many people live in rural areas that may be dozens of kilometers from the nearest health center. People also migrate within a country or across borders, following economic opportunity where it leads. Some populations, particularly ethnic minorities, face discrimination and opt not to seek treatment through the formal health system. For all of these reasons, case detection is a major obstacle on the path to elimination. RAI partners support some 20,000 malaria volunteers across the five countries. Their proximity to risk hot spots means more cases found and treated, and more lives saved. They are truly the vanguard of the elimination effort.