title: Elimination of Plasmodium vivax Malaria in Azerbaijan.
abstract: Azerbaijan in the south caucasus region of far southeastern Europe has a long history of malaria endemicity but just successfully eliminated local transmission. After a period of relatively stable malaria situation (1960-1970), the country witnessed an epidemic followed by a series of outbreaks of various magnitudes in the following two decades, all caused by Plasmodium vivax Compared with 1993, the number of malaria cases in the country jumped 29 times in 1994, 123 times in 1995, and 571 times in 1996 at the peak of the epidemic, when 13,135 cases were officially registered. Incidence rate increased dramatically from 0.2/100,000 population in 1991 to over 17/100,000 population in 1996. Scaled-up malaria control led to the containment of the epidemic and to a dramatic decrease of malaria burden nationwide. Azerbaijan has applied contemporary, complex control and surveillance strategies and approaches and is currently in the prevention of reintroduction phase. This article describes Azerbaijan's public health experience in conducting malaria control and elimination interventions over several decades until 2013 when the country reached an important milestone-no indigenous malaria cases were recorded.
authors.affiliation: Republican Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology, Ministry of Health, Baku, Azerbaijan.
authors.forename: Suleyman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mammadov
authors.affiliation: Malaria and Other Vector-Borne and Parasitic Diseases, World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Elkhan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gasimov
authors.affiliation: National Centre of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Rossitza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kurdova-Mintcheva
authors.affiliation: Independent Scholar, Bangkok, Thailand.
authors.forename: Chansuda
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wongsrichanalai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000469:parasitology / Q000502:physiology; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001382:Azerbaijan / Q000453:epidemiology; D058872:Epidemics; D005955:Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency; D006801:Humans; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009032:Mosquito Control; D010966:Plasmodium vivax; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials