Tackling malaria today

doi:10.1136/bmj.a869

Published 19 August 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a869
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a869

Analysis

Tackling malaria today

Jo Lines, reader in vector control and malaria biology¹, Allan Schapira, senior researcher², Tom Smith, professor of epidemiology²

¹ London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, ² Swiss Tropical Institute, 4051 Basel, Switzerland

Correspondence to: J Lines jo.lines@lshtm.ac.uk

In most countries where malaria is endemic, elimination is stillnot feasible, and the best strategy is steady progress towardsuniversal coverage with key interventions

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Once again, after an interval of 40 years, local eliminationand global eradication of malaria (see box for definitions)is a focus of international health.¹ In 2007, the African Unioncalled for elimination of malaria from the continent,² and theBill and Melinda Gates Foundation challenged partners to adoptthe goal of eradication.³ In this article, we draw on lessonsfrom the first global malaria eradication campaign to arguethat in most countries, time limited elimination remains unfeasiblewith existing tools, and we argue that for these countries itis better to consider how to achieve sustained progress in reducingthe burden of malaria.

Control—Reduction of disease incidence,prevalence, morbidity, or mortality to a locally acceptablelevel as a result of deliberate efforts. Continued interventionmeasures are required to maintain the reduction

Eliminationof disease*—Reduction to zero of the incidence of a specifieddisease in a defined geographical . . . [Full text of this article]