Controlling Urban Malaria in Africa: Operational Guidance for Program Managers
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- February 27, 2019
- Creator
-
Fotheringham, Megan
- Affiliation: Gillings School of Global Public Health, Public Health Leadership Program
- Abstract
- Background: Malaria remains a significant global public health challenge. In 2010, out of an estimated 216 million episodes of malaria, the disease killed 655,000 people. While most malaria cases in Africa occur in rural settings, urban malaria is a unique public health problem that requires specific consideration. With Africa’s rapid pace of urbanization, coupled with specific dynamics of urban settings that facilitate transmission, it is expected that malaria will remain an important public health concern for urban populations. Reduced amounts of international funding, waning international and domestic political commitment, and emerging insecticide resistance among the anopheles mosquitoes, are all factors that in combination require malaria experts to develop a customized urban malaria control program for the 21st century that is smarter, more cost effective, with targeted interventions. Methods: This paper reports on an extensive literature search using the PubMed database to identify contemporary urban malaria studies, research past urban malaria control programs, and analyze currently available control interventions. The data gathered were used to determine the malaria risk factors associated with urban settings and identify essential components of successful urban malaria control programs. Results: Urban settings experience a high level of heterogeneity in malaria transmission. Successful programs in these settings should have multiple, complementary interventions that can be adapted in response to context-specific dynamics of malaria incidence. Conclusions: Urban malaria control programs should use the five-step tool developed and presented in this paper to: a) identify and map the disease burden, b) identify the appropriate strategy, goal and objective; c) select the appropriate interventions; d) expand partnerships to include (among others) the private sector; and e) continue monitoring program progress to ensure that it remains responsive to the urban epidemiological profile.
- Date of publication
- May 2012
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Note
- Paper type: Policy
- Track: Leadership
- Advisor
- Steffen, David
- Degree
- Master of Public Health
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Graduation year
- 2012
- Language
- Deposit record
- b6f6bdeb-f0b9-4907-a2ad-769b5d2e1080
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