title: High attack rate for malaria through irregular migration routes to a country on verge of elimination.
abstract: Irregular migration in the form of human smuggling and human trafficking is recognized as a global public health issue. Thirty-two cases of Plasmodium falciparum were detected in 534 irregular migrants returning to Sri Lanka via failed human smuggling routes from West Africa in 2012, contributing to the largest burden of imported cases in Sri Lanka as it entered elimination phase. Beyond the criminality and human rights abuse, irregular migration plays an important, but often forgotten, pathway for malaria re-introduction. Active surveillance of the growing numbers of irregular migrant flows becomes an important strategy as Sri Lanka advances towards goals of malaria elimination.
authors.affiliation: Health Unit, International Organization for Migration (IOM), No, 62, Green Path, Ananda Coomaraswamy Road, Colombo 3, Sri Lanka. kwickramage@iom.int
authors.forename: Kolitha
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wickramage
authors.forename: Risintha G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Premaratne
authors.forename: Sharika L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Peiris
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mosca
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000354:Africa, Western / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D063426:Human Migration; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000635:transmission*; D008297:Male; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013188:Sri Lanka / Q000453:epidemiology; D014195:Travel
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