New tools for malaria eradication: integrated packages for geospatial mapping, population-based sampling and high-sensitivity testing
Malaria elimination/ eradication has been a global policy for the past decade and has enabled some tremendous achievements. Most parts of the world have seen a dramatically reduced burden of malaria and some have successfully achieved elimination. Recent data suggests that some of these gains may be reversing and that significant challenges remain in maintaining momentum with this goal. This talk examines some of the ongoing needs to successfully achieve elimination and specially examines the need for integrated packages of interventions. It will outline approaches being developed in high-precision geospatial mapping, population-based sampling strategies, and the development of new diagnostic tests to detect subpatent parasite infections and G6PD deficiency. The application of some of these new tools is demonstrated with recent fieldwork on the Vietnam-Cambodia border.