Healthcare company PATH and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) on Monday jointly reported the launch of VivAccess, in the elimination of Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) malaria in malaria-endemic countries.

As part of the five year, joint initiative, the VivAccess initiative, which is part of the larger global effort and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will support malaria-endemic countries in the adoption and use of new and existing tools facilitate well-tolerated and effective radical cure to prevent relapse, added the companies.

P. vivax is reportedly the most frequently occurring species of malaria parasite outside of sub-Saharan Africa, putting approximately 2.5 billion people at risk and causing around 7.5 million infections a year. Each infection can lead to multiple relapses due to the parasite's ability to lie dormant in the liver.

Via VivAccess, the partnership will work closely with the World Health Organisation, National Malaria Control Programmes and country-based healthcare partners to support the introduction and use of effective tools: malaria diagnostics, G6PD diagnostics, blood-stage drugs and liver-stage radical-cure drugs.

Under the guidance of national health agencies, VivAccess will support market analytics, technical expertise and product delivery coordination as countries seek to introduce effective radical cure into national malaria protocols and accelerate progress towards malaria elimination in alignment with the WHO malaria strategic agenda.

Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) is a leading product development partnership (PDP) in the field of antimalarial drug research and development. Its mission is to reduce the burden of malaria in disease-endemic countries by discovering, developing and facilitating delivery of new, effective and affordable antimalarial drugs.