The goal of the antenatal care (ANC)-based malaria surveillance study is to assess the potential for pregnant women attending their first ANC visit to be used as an easy-to-access sentinel population at health facilities to monitor trends in prevalence of malaria infection and the coverage of malaria control interventions in study districts, correlated with similar metrics obtained during annual community-based cross-sectional surveys (CSS). The New Nets Project (NNP) is conducting annual cross-sectional surveys in three study districts each in Burkina Faso and western Mozambique and in four study local government areas in Nigeria, with the primary aim of evaluating the impact of next-generation dual active ingredient insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) compared to standard pyrethroid-only ITNs. Through funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Global Fund, testing for malaria of all pregnant women at during their first ANC visit is being implemented at select health facilities in NNP study districts for two years (2020–2022).

This descriptive report presents a summary of preliminary results generated from the first months of data collection in Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and Nigeria. It begins with an overview of the study sites and timeline, followed by a summary of the study population and data collection and analysis methods. The findings from each country are then presented, including prevalence and ITN and care-seeking indicators. Each country section closes with a discussion on the ANC-based surveillance results and how they seemingly compare to results from the annual household CSSs from the NNP.