NAY PYI TAW, Sept. 7 -- China and Myanmar are enhancing efforts in controlling malaria along the border, said U Kyaw Zin Thant, managing director of medical research department of the ministry of health and sports on Thursday.

A meeting for fighting malaria along China-Myanmar border was held with the cooperation of National Health and Family Planning Commission of China, Yunnan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Ministry of Health and Sports of Myanmar in Nay Pyi Taw on Wednesday.

Both sides discussed matters on reducing malaria morbidity and mortality rate along the China-Myanmar border as the local people are facing drug-resistant malaria risks along the border areas.

The project of controlling malaria along the border area will be implemented in three or five years.

The malaria fatality rate decreased as there were only 100,000 people affected by malaria in 2016 while there were over 400,000 people affected by the disease in previous five years.

But, the authorities are exerting efforts to ultimately eliminate malaria in the country as Myanmar is still in the top lists of malaria affected countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).