title: Strategic roles for behaviour change communication in a changing malaria landscape.
abstract: Strong evidence suggests that quality strategic behaviour change communication (BCC) can improve malaria prevention and treatment behaviours. As progress is made towards malaria elimination, BCC becomes an even more important tool. BCC can be used 1) to reach populations who remain at risk as transmission dynamics change (e.g. mobile populations), 2) to facilitate identification of people with asymptomatic infections and their compliance with treatment, 3) to inform communities of the optimal timing of malaria control interventions, and 4) to explain changing diagnostic concerns (e.g. increasing false negatives as parasite density and multiplicity of infections fall) and treatment guidelines. The purpose of this commentary is to highlight the benefits and value for money that BCC brings to all aspects of malaria control, and to discuss areas of operations research needed as transmission dynamics change.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Communication Programs, 111 Market Place Suite 310, Baltimore, MD 21202, USA. hkoenker@jhuccp.org.
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Koenker
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keating
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alilio
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Acosta
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: Fatoumata
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nafo-Traore
mesh_terms: D058015:Health Communication / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy / Q000635:transmission; D009874:Operations Research