Malaria Surveillance, Information and Research Strategies Malaria Surveillance Baseline Data, Monitoring & Evaluation, and Operational Research Partners Malaria Surveillance, Information and Research Chart Strategies  Establish baseline and monitoring data on the malaria burden, malaria transmission and socio-economic and behavioural determinants by: Standardising malaria definitions and indicators Estimating population at risk and specific risk groups Mapping environmental, demographic, geographical, meteorological, entomological and malaria data Collecting malaria data as part of census, inter-census and Demographic and Health Surveys Conducting malaria burden and KAP surveys Estimating the economic burden of malaria and cost of malaria control Preparing malaria country profiles Establish a sub-regional malaria information and surveillance network  Support countries in building sound surveillance and mapping systems Support countries carry out regular monitoring and evaluation of their programme and specific activities Support operational research that is owned by NMCPs and relevant to their work Provide NMCPs with up-to-date malaria texts and documents Develop a network of researchers in Southern Africa that can support NMCPs Back to top

Posters and Bulletins Population Data and Malaria Control Mapping and Malaria Control Monitoring and Evaluation of RBM in the Africa Region The Malaria Red Reference Initiative Improving Knowledge for Malaria Control Malaria Surveillance Bulletins for Southern Africa More Publications Reference Documents Africa Malaria Report 2003 Roll Back Malaria in Southern Africa - Baseline 2001  Malaria Research in Southern Africa - Compilation of Medline Indexed Abstracts The African Summit on Roll Back Malaria 20th Report of WHO Expert Committee on Malaria Framework for Monitoring Progress & Evaluating Outcomes and Impact Framework for Monitoring Progress & Evaluating Outcomes and Impact [Portuguese Version] Strategic Direction for Malaria Research in Africa

Malaria Surveillance

Malaria surveillance can be defined as the systematic collection of information related to malaria such as number of clinical cases, confirmed cases, malaria deaths, etc. The rationale of malaria surveillance is to reveal malaria trends and formulate malaria control interventions based on evidence.

Functions of malaria surveillance:

	Evaluation of time trends
	Identification and documentation of outbreaks
	Evaluation of disease interventions
	Determine effectiveness of epidemic control
	Identification of populations at risk
	Mobilize resources for epidemic disaster control

The surveillance systems of countries covered by SAMC is not the same throughout. For more information on the surveillance system and information of a particular country go to the country profiles.

SAMC operates a subregional surveillance and information database. The information in the database comes from the surveillance and routine information systems shown in the table below.

Currently all countries with surveillance systems submit surveillance reports on a monthly basis and those with information systems when the information is available. SAMC produces Monthly Malaria Update giving an overview of the malaria situation with the region.

Information

Information such as population at risk, drug policy, sentinel sites, vector control initiatives and  meteorological data  such as historical rainfall, relative humidity, temperature, estimated rainfall derived from satellite imagery and rainfall temperature forecasts are available.

Geographical and Environmental Information Systems are being used to integrate the information at our disposal to analyse and strengthen malaria stratification, monitoring and forecasting of epidemics. A malaria module of HealthMapper is being used for this purpose. The software enables NMCPs to create digital malaria thematic maps very easily. Maps showing malaria free, unstable (epidemic prone) and stable malaria areas have been produced. SAMC in collaboration with HealthMap (WHO/HQ) and Malsat (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) are supporting countries to build their capacity in this area.

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Baseline Data, Monitoring & Evaluation, and Operational Research

A series of core impact, outcome and process RBM indicators for Southern Africa are used for monitoring progress. These indicators are given below:

DHS: Demographic and Health Survey
DSS: Demographic Surveillance Site
HIS: Health Information System
IDS: Integrated Disease Surveillance

Good quality baseline data are essential if an evidence-base is to be established and malaria control efforts properly monitored and evaluated. Hence, using existing data estimates of population at risk at national and provincial levels, malaria mortality and morbidity, and coverage of interventions have been calculated for the subregion.

POWERPOINT PRESENTATION – Population data and malaria control in Southern Africa,

WORD documents (click to view) -

• Malaria mortality in Southern Africa,
• Building an evidence-base for RBM in Southern Africa

However, existing data are often insufficient and it is necessary to conduct population-based surveys. To this end, quantitative and qualitative protocols for population-based malaria surveys are available. The protocols collect data on malaria incidence, parasite prevalence and mortality as well as malaria’s socio-economic and behavioural determinants

Click to View - Community-based surveys.doc

Operational research protocols have also been develop for evaluation malaria IEC materials and malaria interventions among travellers and tourists with the Department of Community, University of Zimbabwe, and the Department of Communication Studies, University of Stirling, respectively.

Health professionals working in malaria control often do not have a access to up-to-date information on the disease and its control. Consequently, SAMC together with the Medical School Library of the University of Zimbabwe launched the Malaria Red Reference Initiative in February 2000

Click to View – Malaria Red Reference Initiative

A considerable amount of operational research on malaria is being done in the subregion. Together with the University of Zimbabwe Medical School Library, a compilation of malaria research in Southern Africa in the 1990s has been produced

Click to View – Malaria Research in Southern Africa in the 1990s

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Partners