Darwin
Prime Minister Julia Gillard will co-chair the newly formed Asia-Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA), which will bring together leaders from the region to fight malaria.
The announcement follows World Malaria Day on 25 April.
Malaria is a wholly preventable and treatable disease which causes more than 650,000 deaths worldwide every year and which killed more than 42,000 people in the Asia-Pacific in 2010.
Since 2007, World Malaria Day has focussed global attention on the need for sustained political commitment for malaria prevention and control.
Last year Australia sponsored a declaration about malaria at the East Asia Summit and leaders committed to a strengthened regional response to the urgent challenge of drug-resistant malaria.
The decision to take a leadership role in the Alliance helps deliver on the declaration and the commitments made at Australia's Malaria 2012 conference.
The Gillard Government acknowledges the commitment of countries of the region and development partners to address malaria and, as co-chair of the Alliance, the Prime Minister will join with leaders to mobilise urgent country and regional action and review progress towards agreed malaria targets.
The APLMA will convene two taskforces to improve access to life-saving medicines and to ensure adequate financing of the malaria response.
With the UN Special Envoy on Malaria the APLMA will form a Champions Group of eminent advocates from the region to assist them in the fight against malaria.
As a member state of the Asia-Pacific region Australia looks forward to joining with a partner country in this leadership role. While it is the poorest and most vulnerable in our region that are most at risk from malaria, we all share the broader economic, social and development impact of this disease.
APLMA's first meeting will be in the region later this year, bringing together regional leaders to save lives, and prevent the suffering and economic toll that malaria exacts.
The Gillard Government has committed $1 million to establish this Alliance, and made a pledge last year to advocate for accelerated progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and malaria is one of our regional priorities.