Adaptive surveillance systems are essential for national programmes to achieve their malaria elimination goals. Core principles of surveillance systems, including accurate diagnosis and reporting of malaria cases, integration of health data across administrative levels and the need to link data to a response, are well defined by international guidelines. Nevertheless, while the requirements of surveillance systems along the transmission continuum are clearly documented, the operationalisation remains challenging for national programmes. Firstly, because the multi-level increase of surveillance efforts demanding real-time and case-based data as well as the capacity of the health force to trigger locally customised responses is resource-intensive and requires substantial investment. Secondly, because there is a gap in international alignment on best tools and practices on how to operationally implement these requirements. Recently, several initiatives have started to address this gap in international coordination, aiming to establish the operational guidance for elimination programmes to successfully implement adaptive surveillance systems.

Published by IntechOpen

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