Resources

This trial evaluated two malaria control approaches: reactive focal test and treat, and reactive focal drug administration. This is critical for Zambia, where malaria transmission is low enough in some areas that it is feasible to reactively seek and treat all infections in the index case and neighboring households.

Malaria indicator surveys have been implemented regularly in Zambia since 2006 to assess malaria prevalence. As Zambia targets elimination, tracking progress through the survey is increasingly difficult due to the sample size required. This study examines the ability of population genetics to assess transmission intensity in low-transmission settings.

Since 2012, Senegal has implemented case investigation + reactive case detection (RCD) in the north: first with RCD + focal test and treat in the index household and neighbors, then focal screen test and treat, and eventually focal drug administration. This study examined the feasibility and efficacy of these methods.

Passive incidence of malaria cases is the main metric used in near-zero transmission settings in Senegal; other methods are needed to assess transmission interruption. These surveys aimed to assess malaria exposure in two regions of Senegal, describe historical changes in transmission, and identify the best sampling strategy for scale-up.

The search for eligible individuals and households for malaria case investigation in Ethiopia is labor and time intensive. However, this can be done more efficiently through census data and mobile technology. This study introduced an ODK-based phone app for malaria case investigation using Google Maps and embedded geo-referenced census data.