examine hospital and south korea's president has being seeing for himself special centers set up for students who are self isolating. and i had various concerns but today looking at the preparations i am somewhat relieved because however the cove in 1902 asian is now worse than when we 1st planned for this day already under incredible exam pressure students this year have the added concerns of the pandemic to stress over rob mcbride al-jazeera soul. it is good to have you with us hello adrian figure here in doha the headlines on al-jazeera hong kong media tycoon and pro-democracy advocate jimmy lai has been refused bail the outspoken government critic has been charged with defrauding government businesses it comes a day after 3 prominent activists were jailed followers in india

a meeting government ministers for a 2nd round of talks as protests intensify against proposed laws on farm produce they say that they'll keep demonstrating for the go see a sions on tuesday ended without agreement and is withdraw to reports. to eat the lunch provided by the government and brought their own lunch meanwhile the protests are continuing on 3 major highways coming into the indian capital one of them with thousands of farmers tens of thousands of pharmacy using hundreds of to block these key highways they're being joined by more and more protesters from states which don't think protest is arriving from the states or by just down from the states of. bangladesh has begun to transfer hundreds of ring the refugees to the island of. which the un warns is prone to cyclons and floods at least 10 buses carrying around $400.00 people have left cox is bizarre. more than 2700 people in

the u.s. have died from corona virus in the past 24 hours that's the highest daily death toll since april hospital admissions reached a record 100001 wednesday iran has confirmed that more than a 1000000 cases of codeine scene it's the hardest hit country in the middle east the disease is killed almost 50000 people there the health ministry says the actual number of facilities is likely much higher iran has introduced tough restrictions to counter a 3rd wave of infections. u.s. media reporting saudi arabia is close to reopening its airspace and land borders to counsel the gulf nation has been under a land sea and air blockade by saudi arabia bahrain the u.a.e. and egypt since 2017 when you see him off the inside story next.

coronavirus all malaria tuberculosis and. the u.n. warns the fight against is threatening efforts made to control others what is the pandemic to the decades long efforts to control these disease this is inside story . hello welcome to the program i'm burnitz. more than 7000000 lives have been saved from malaria in the past 2 decades but progress in fighting the disease has been hindered as efforts are diverted to the coronavirus pandemic the world health

organization expects the target for reducing malaria cases to be missed by almost 40 percent this year funding shortfalls and disruptions to treatments are putting fountains of lives at risk only $3000000000.00 was received last year when more than $5000000000.00 was needed interventions a simple as using nets and rigid you will spraying can help prevent the mosquito borne disease the w.h.o. is urging nations to step up their efforts for a world free of malaria w.h.o. says 229000000 people were infected by malaria in 29000 their stated figure has remained virtually unchanged over the past 4 years last year more than 400000 people died from the disease africa accounted for more than 90 percent of all global cases and deaths half of them were in nigeria democratic republic of congo tanzania mozambique and bikini. the continent has significantly reduced the death rate since 2000 but that

a slowed in recent years while india is among the major contributors to malaria the nation has been making progress in eliminating the disease. and the impact of corona virus is also affecting the fight against other diseases and addition to malaria tuberculosis and hiv programs also reported about 80 percent of disruption services tuberculosis diagnoses for example a drop by nearly 75 percent in india since the pandemic began while one in 4 people suffering with hiv reported problems gaining access to medications. let's now bring in our guests joining us from nairobi is jeremy heron he's a scientist at the international center of insect physiology and ecology in brussels martin the smatter physician and leader of the doctors without borders malaria working group out in kuala lumpur john fleming the asia pacific head of the regional health unit of the international federation of red cross and red crescent

societies welcome to you all john i'll start with you the red cross is the world's largest humanitarian network have you had to divert resources from things like malaria tb and a job to deal with cove it absolutely no. really all it is that it's operation. ration the international federation also. gauged and we for instance in the asia pacific region we had 38 national red cross presence. and every one of those $38.00. are engaged in. what works allocation activities in respect of all we also activities or so little. anomic programs. so there isn't much a major priority or. jeremy when you hear about resources being

diverted what does it tell you are going to be the challenges in trying to bring down the cases of malaria there was this ambitious strategy set up by the global tech technical strategy from the w.h.o. to bring cases down to 90 down by 90 percent by 2030 already it suggests they're way off beam what's going wrong yeah well i think there's really a lack of investment in that that was pointed out in in the reports where lives were not really on track to meet the goals and unfortunately with the events of the last year i think investment will probably take another hit. so we weren't on the right track with investments before curve it and i think it's really it's going to be really unfortunate as one of the resources are diverted towards kervyn which is important but there is

a risk that people start to forget about malaria which is really an incredibly important. martin were those g.t.s. the global technical strategy targets to. i think it's good that the targets are and remain bishops but indeed the reality is that we were not able to meet story gets for a number of reasons as mentioned already before. not only due to coverage but even before debt 400000 people dying every year you cannot called out of course being on track for a number of reasons that were present before culverts and received that lack of progress mainly in countries conflict countries all stable countries post conflict countries also a number of and environmental events that unfortunately continue to increase

extreme events vance flooding leading to more and more malaria technical problems linked to insecticide resistance for example so there's a number of reasons why it has been in detroit very difficult to reach the targets but we still have to do a maximum of bit mobilization to come as close as possible. of health care are being affected by the concentration on fighting kovac 19. i mean according to the 80 human. made of night or. measles. really goes beyond that. early. or many many other.

really overstretched. ready. very inviting strike all of them out beyond. stretched beyond their feet and again you know i like of the best in the some of the only mention it and other really important areas on it and we're looking at again disasters that have been mentioned so it is thanks a 2nd. boat to our population mike grooms oblations one day and they do mean threats. nomic challenges meant social. challenges. are in the eyes.

jeremy more than half the malaria and demick countries have reported disruptions to malaria diagnosis and treatment what are the consequences of that if you're not diagnosing it earlier on what chain of events of that creates. it's a disease that you know operates very quickly so. if people are not getting diagnosed in a timely manner getting medication. the rate of mortality is going to increase very significantly and i think we have seen that these here. the levels are definitely going up it's hard to say exactly by how much and the worst may be still to come because i think a lot of the economic impacts of the pandemic are still coming and i think that will have a major effects in sub-saharan africa where of course as you mentioned malaria it's easy is the worst martin have the doctors without borders teams have been reporting

delays in diagnosing malaria what i what are their concerns. well we are of course also observing delays and to places where we work. very often linked to the whole or just tickle implication of. travel restrictions drugs diagnostics but that's that can just be shipped. but. i would like to say that are also some positive aspects because the beginning we all understood that this was going to be a major major challenge with very high risk of exploding malaria deaths and fortunately there has been a huge mobilization among the different actors to invest as much as possible and prevention and in fact this was quite successful thanks to that good collaboration

just one example there is a nice strategy. of prevention the children do receive and that's millions and millions of children receive antimalarial drugs during the transmission season on a monthly basis we were all afraid that this would completely collapse. because of the coverts the logistical challenges the movement restrictions but thanks to huge huge mobilization national control programs world health organization n.g.o.s unicef to our own surprise in fact all these interventions did take place and the countries as they were planned basically with only some minor disruptions a lot of the bed nets distribution. take place so i think there was a shift do we really have to invest into prevention still the opportunity the window of opportunity between. us and i think this really was helpful

to. do to reduce the impact. of the culture it on the other hand we do see and it's no a daily struggle indeed to make sure that there are sufficient drugs and diagnostic tools all groaned. and his ranges from an deets manufacturing issues the reality is that we're very happy deaths there are today good tests to test profits but it's basically the same production lines in the saying companies producing malaria tests so it's a daily struggle to make sure that we still have sufficient malaria dusts the whole are just tickle challenge to bring the drugs over dinner and then in many countries the impact on don't struggle restrictions people can't get to the health centrists sometimes so we observe very worrying and concerning developments and at the same

time we see and courage ng dynamics as i mentioned true that's strong mobilization very close follow up the different agencies looking to get or how we can swiftly react to didn't eat so that's a bit sour observations john while there is good positive news from martin that he mentions the diagnostic tests now these rapid diagnostic tests they make profit of about $0.18 a test i understand the money factor as well as the krona virus is much more lucrative the test is $10.00 ago there's a red cross see problems in getting these tests produced and distributed and provided because a capacity is being switched the coronavirus testing. you know we our main role frankly in bolton the virus in all areas created or are tessa's think every now and then maybe some national sightings to. be she

may say comparative advantage. so to play station generated in threats that's seen or introduced or since demand creation in the state or a bad treatment for testing so a lot of our. work is at the community level it's base it's based on our coverage to the branches or some of our too well so a lot of its base from advocacy. management social mobilization and also as they indicate engage in solution gage so from the task in point of view clearly it's of interest to us than in many cases i'll say national societies may get involved in testing of the most part are our area is working with governments of course in with the agencies the things named dear but it's utilizing or

comparative advantage. germy can you just help us understand what the new formulations of artemisinin combined therapy the improvements if then have made in have made for the treatment of malaria and these introduction of these rapid diagnostic tests what is difference are they making. well a huge huge difference i mean the bell ability they see teases really made made it possible to treat people across africa and the world the treatments are cheap and effective. and so far have had a relatively minimal amount of resistance from the side of the. it's been very very effective way of controlling the disease. there is you know a cautionary note that it will not last forever resistance always involves and

that's why you know research and development is incredibly important suddenly have the next line of drugs available when when this instance opponents as it most definitely will so we really can't rest on the sort this one. when we have these working at the moment that's great but we've got to look to the future as well but jeremy off people getting reliable access to those drugs at the moment because of course resistant resistance builds doesn't it if people don't use the drug regularly another got some treatment yeah well i think a lot of that has. this year but even in other years there were challenges in getting access to you know even some of the most remote the most remote places in sub-saharan africa so i would say that you know

there's been a lot of effort and a lot of group meant but we're still not not there yet and the challenge of this year it's a little bit hard to say exactly how much effect it's had and in course in different countries in africa that have been affected more or less by coronaviruses the levels of. blockage in the sort of supply chains is different but what we know is that there has been and the fact and that is unfortunate martin have you if your teams report at the affair of people going to clinics because they're going to contract coronavirus have you been able to account of that. yes we did observe for people accessing the health center fortunately there is indeed as was already mentioned quite some investment in community based treatments. people can get treatment for the basic disease

including malaria village but it served a fear on different levels. the patient was afraid to attend the health center sometimes the health staff is afraid of going to work because they're afraid especially in the beginning when there wasn't enough personal protective equipment available that stuff was afraid to go to the health center on top of that there were in a number of african countries strict rules all movements also reducing this access at the same time we were also fearing that the same factor which for disproof devotees for example attending a better distribution attending vaccination. for measles for example and so we are really and i think all the actress really invested to lots and motion explaining clearly to the people that the risk was truly because the ways

were organized in a safe way and at the same time also thanks to the world health organization boats together with all the partners there was very clear guidance issued on how can you deal with for example a better distribution in the context how can you reorganize your circuits in a clinic in a context of. transmission i'm going so there's a problem but fortunately with good health promotion good guidance on how to adapt reassuring i think this does is less disrupt. if we feel and the beginning but no one can tell what's going to be in the future of course. because general rumors spread eventually easily in africa rumors of spreading.

during a vaccination campaign for example has a huge impact on the coverage of the future campaigns of. john how do you mitigate those concerns that people have people nervous to come for treatment because they fear they're going to get corona virus which means tb doesn't get identified early enough or or malaria doesn't get identified. right so we you know we've been here a number of let's say a broad means of engaging unities of course in the context here in asia so many countries there's. no social media so we can rule a clear. route size of people to various means we're you know we're working in many of the communities anyway so we have. trust but certainly as my colleague has mentioned that building trust and dealing with

rumors and misinformation through. to communication risk communication generating trust i mean it is a huge area but also it was mentioned the disasters we're in the midst of the season. for us nick in titans only in the philippines. now so again believe me and risk communication and all i seen are a means of getting through in the formation. i think that so that's certainly one area that we and many other many other organizations that. are represented in this panel are in against them but it is definitely a real real struggle a lot of misinformation regards to poland but also in regards to the let's say going to else the silage so it is it's certainly

a big chunk or. it's in africa that's force continuum it's ok are jeremy can i ask you if you're aware of this new bit of research from germany amar and mali into why malaria. persists during the dry seasons when hardly anyone gets sick and there are 2 new too few mosquitoes to carry the power site suggesting the mosquito performs some sort of genetic change to lie in wait waiting for the wet season what difference does a discovery of this may make to the development of an eventual vaccine while i think that's a very important discovery because of course if you can if you could prevent skeeters from holding malaria from one season to the next then you can know much it's much easier to eradicate it so you can prevent that sort of transmission

across seasons because malaria does kind of disappear when when there are no rains in the in a lot of places that are at the epidemic levels of malaria and so you know eve you can target that particular stage could be sort of a weak weak link in the parasite cycle. but i think it also underscores the need for more research to really understand the whole malaria cycle and the biology of the factor so that we can find the sort of mohammedan fruits weak links we can then target as as part of new interventions which i think are really going to be the key to me eradicating malaria and we generally have sort of reached that we're always going to have these types of challenges every time we have no one outbreak of a different disease it's going to compound the efforts of trying to control malaria and martin can i ask you with all the billions and billions of dollars that's been

poured into finding covert vaccines in the last less than 12 months if a been committed to malaria would we have a vaccine today would we have got rid of it. there's of course a big difference and no direct has been a lot of investments and a malaria vaccine and fortunately the last trials are ongoing are encouraging but in. i think the 1st discussions and the 1st steps in the development of that fax and started to and i was still a university student i think is so. debt's huge boosts expression when it comes to the time line. of course that that would have helped a lot for malaria as well there is a lot of investment but unfortunately the results still have to be proved true. but we hope deaths the success of the tracks following the success of the ebola

vaccine will also lead to a for sustained and increased investments in the developments of vaccine or of one of the malaria facts and because dr several in the pipeline but in very different stages of development are a focus on fortunately we are out of time but thank you to all our guests to jeremy heron to dr martin and to john fleming and thank you to watching you can see the problem again any time by visiting our web site al-jazeera dot com more debate go to our facebook page facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a.j. inside story from me. and the whole team here by foot.

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differences and similarities of cultures across the world so no matter how you take it we'll bring you the news and current affairs that matter to you. in doha with a look at our main stories on al-jazeera hong kong media tycoon and pro-democracy advocate jimmy lai has been refused bail the outspoken government critic has been charged with defrauding government owned businesses and this comes a day after 3 prominent activists were jailed did it upon and has more from hong kong this is a very significant case here at the moment particularly because jimmy lives not only known for his pro-democracy activities but he's also a huge tycoon here in hong kong he is well known for his rags to riches story he's got a net worth estimated net were.