What does “looking at malaria from the perspective of elimination” actually mean?

Fifteen years or so have passed since the international public health community revisited its long-term goal of eradicating malaria. Since then, we have heard time and time again that changing from a "control" strategy to one based on “elimination” or “eradication” represents a true “paradigm shift” that requires approaching the problem from “a different angle”, tackling the disease with "new tools" and aiming to “interrupt transmission” rather than simply cure malaria cases.

But what does this mean? If we simply analyse the terminology used, the shift in perspective becomes clearer:

• Controlling a disease means reducing the number of cases and deaths to a point where it is no longer considered a public health problem.
• Eliminating a disease means putting an end to the pathogenic agent in a defined geographic area, thereby ensuring that nobody in the region can be infected with a parasite transmitted by a member of their community.
• Eradicating a disease means eliminating it from all regions of the world, ensuring that the pathogen no longer exists in nature. To date, this has only been achieved in the case of smallpox.

ISGlobal has prepared this presentation to briefly explain what "tackling malaria from the perspective of elimination" means. The main points dealt with are:

• Achievements to date and work that remains to be done
• Difficulties associated with eliminating the last remaining infections and the advantages to be gained
• Challenges that lie ahead
• Tools needed
• What “interrupting transmission” actually implies…

Eliminating, and eventually eradicating malaria, is a goal that will take many years to achieve and will only be possible with the continued efforts of many people from a wide range of sectors. Through continuous research, analysis, training, and technical cooperation, ISGlobal tries to do its part every day to help make malaria a thing of the past.