Prevention of re-establishment of malaria

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: Allan Schapira, Anatoly Kondrashin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2021
• Subjects: Malaria; Elimination; Prevention of re-establishment; Surveillance; Vigilance; Mortality; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-021-03781-4; https://doaj.org/article/d6003233debe4a1ab15500e48c6a2da2

Abstract The current consensus on prevention of re-establishment of malaria is based on the following principles: (1) Fundamental role of general health services; (2) Surveillance; (3) Vector control; (4) Border actions; (5) Intersectoral collaboration. These principles are critically reviewed, and it is pointed out that alertness of the general health services to suspected malaria (vigilance) needs to be maintained everywhere, while health education is rational only if targeting high-risk sub-populations. It is argued that prevention of re-establishment of malaria transmission should be integrated with prevention of malaria mortality in cases of imported malaria, and that this requires collaboration with entities dealing with travellers’ health and the availability of chemoprophylaxis and other measures for travellers to malaria endemic countries.