Many countries and health organizations have dedicated new attention and resources to expanding coverage of anti-malaria interventions in the past decade. These interventions include established practices, such as indoor residual spraying, and more recent innovations, including long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets.
Studies examining the efficacy of these interventions suggest they are potentially powerful tools in combating malaria. Some countries – including Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Zambia – have made remarkable progress in malaria control in the past decade, according to the World Health Organization and others. If these apparent successes can be validated, the results would have significant implications for both policy and advocacy.
Yet the data are limited, and important questions remain about the consequences of sustained application of these interventions on a larger scale. These questions range from whether efficacy studies can be carried out at the population level to whether widespread use of interventions could lead to eventual resistance to drugs or insecticides.
Collaborators
- World Health Organization’s Global Malaria Programme
- University of Zambia
IHME also works with other in-country researchers, policymakers, and health care workers on this project.
Key Activities
Evaluate the effectiveness of malaria interventions in two countries
By analyzing trends in child mortality, we answer the question, what proportion of the reduction in child mortality is attributable to malaria-control interventions, accounting for all other childhood health interventions?
We do this by compiling all available data to analyze trends in malaria, childhood health interventions, and mortality, both nationally and subnationally, in the focus countries.
Impact
The findings serve as evidence-based policy instruments for Zambia’s health programs, as well as guides for other countries and health initiatives tackling malaria.
