Public health control measures are the first line of defence to protect people living in malaria risk areas. The control measures that are recommended depend on the level of malaria risk in an area.
Tools for the control of malaria include:
- Long lasting insecticide-treated nets
- Indoor residual spraying
- Intermittent presumptive treatment of malaria in infants, young children and those attending school
- Intermittent presumptive treatment for pregnant women
- Access to effective treatment for children with a fever
- Capacity to detect, prepare and respond to early warnings for epidemics
- Education and communication
A common measure to define the level of malaria risk in a community, and hence select effective control tools, is to record the number of people in the general population who have malaria parasites in their blood. This measure, known as the parasite rate, has been used for almost 100 years to define malaria risk across the world. It is important to monitor risk in the general population as control measures reach adequate coverage levels and until the portion of the population infected drops to about 1%.
When the malaria risk is very low, Ministries of Health and public health practitioners start to monitor the number of people with disease symptoms who are confirmed as having malaria, within a district (annual case incidence).
The Malaria Atlas Project produces maps relevant to both high/moderate risk areas and very low risk areas; these are the endemicity maps and the limits of transmission maps respectively.
Find these maps using the Resource Browser
You can find further information in these papers: