Malaria Metrics

Measuring Exposure, Infection, Transmission, Disease, and Control

If we want to manage malaria, we need to measure it [1–3]. Metrics have been developed for malaria research and surveillance. The two kinds of metrics we discuss here are focused on malaria in populations. Metrics for Clinical malaria are discussed separately.

Research Metrics

Infection

• Malaria prevalence by light microscopy

• Malaria prevalence by rapid diagnostic test

• Malaria prevalence by LaMP

• Malaria prevalence by PCR

Exposure

• Human Biting Rates

• Sporozoite Rates

• The Entomological Inoculation Rate

Seasonality

Inter-annual Variability

Mosquitoes

Serology

Surveillance Metrics

Facility Data

TPR

Case Counts

Malaria Control

ITN Metrics

IRS Metrics

References

1.

Hay SI, Smith DL, Snow RW. Measuring malaria endemicity from intense to interrupted transmission. Lancet Infect Dis. 2008;8: 369–378. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(08)70069-0

2.

Smith DL, Smith TA, Hay SI. Measuring malaria for elimination. In: Feachem RGA, Phillips AA, Targett GAT, editors. Shrinking the Malaria Map. San Francisco, CA: University of California, San Francisco; 2009. pp. 108–126. Available: https://shrinkingthemalariamap.org/sites/default/files/resources/AProspectusonMalariaElimination.pdf

3.

Tusting LS, Bousema T, Smith DL, Drakeley C. Measuring changes in Plasmodium falciparum transmission: Precision, accuracy and costs of metrics. Adv Parasitol. 2014;84: 151–208. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-800099-1.00003-X