Oral Presentation First Malaria World Congress 2018

The Role of Surveillance, Mapping, and Targeting Interventions in Malaria Elimination and Burden Reduction (#129)

Philip Welkhoff 1
  1. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington, United States

Utilization of existing tools for further reducing malaria burden and driving towards malaria elimination will depend on improved epidemiological surveillance and use of data.  Pathways towards improved malaria surveillance include rollout of digital data systems, geospatial analysis techniques for mapping malaria heterogeneity, as well as newer approaches such as genetic epidemiology.  Surveillance as an intervention is a core concept across the entire transmission continuum, and new toolsets for surveillance will deliver value.  Genetic epidemiology can detect and track insecticide resistance, drug resistance, and diagnostic failures, facilitating timely appropriate selection of interventions to continue to reduce burden.  In near-elimination settings, genetic epidemiology can distinguish imported and local cases, identifying sources of imported infections and residual transmission hotspots.  Improved geospatial mapping can identify subnational areas for prioritization of targeted and tailored enhanced intervention packages.  Remote sensing can map populations, improve estimates of population denominators for coverage, and inform seasonal and locally-resolved risk maps.  To realize the potential impact of these techniques, focus must be on delivering actionable information to national programs and supporting program capacity to leverage these data.