title: Surveillance considerations for malaria elimination.
abstract: Constant malaria monitoring and surveillance systems have been highlighted as critical for malaria elimination. The absence of robust monitoring and surveillance systems able to respond to outbreaks in a timely manner undeniably contributed to the failure of the last global attempt to eradicate malaria. Today, technological advances could allow for rapid detection of focal outbreaks and improved deployment of diagnostic and treatment supplies to areas needing support. However, optimizing diffusion activities (e.g., distributing vector controls and medicines, as well as deploying behaviour change campaigns) requires networks of diverse scholars to monitor, learn, and evaluate data and multiple organizations to coordinate their intervention activities. Surveillance systems that can gather, store and process information, from communities to national levels, in a centralized, widely accessible system will allow tailoring of surveillance and intervention efforts. Different systems and, thus reactions, will be effective in different endemic, geographical or socio-cultural contexts. Investing in carefully designed monitoring technologies, built for a multiple-acter, dynamic system, will help to improve malaria elimination efforts by improving the coordination, timing, coverage, and deployment of malaria technologies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. vcb11@psu.edu
authors.forename: Victoria C
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Barclay
authors.forename: Rachel A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Jill L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Findeis
mesh_terms: D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods; D060740:Disease Eradication / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000379:methods