A Malaria Elimination Guide to Targeted Surveillance and Response in High-Risk Populations (HRP Guide)

Why is surveillance and response important in high-risk populations?

Decreasing and ultimately reducing transmissions to zero among high-risk populations (HRPs) is essential to achieving and sustaining malaria elimination. However, most malaria programs rely on passive case detection as the foundation of malaria surveillance, frequently missing specific HRPs who are less likely to present at health facilities or are highly mobile and may be absent at follow up. Targeted surveillance and response can help national malaria control programs (NMPs) refine their understanding of HRPs, improve the targeting of interventions, and ultimately reduce malaria transmission.

What is the HRP Guide and why is it useful?

HRPs may be harder to reach and often require special approaches to ensure all malaria infections are detected and treated. The MEI created A Malaria Elimination Guide to Targeted Surveillance and Response in High-Risk Populations (HRP Guide), a set of four step-by-step modules, to help NMPs build the epidemiological evidence and resources they need to determine the optimal selection and delivery of interventions for reducing malaria transmission among HRPs. The HRP Guide provides a set of approaches to review transmission patterns and surveillance gaps, gather detailed epidemiological evidence on risk factors and behaviors of populations likely at high risk for malaria, track epidemiological trends in HRPs, and improve targeting of interventions.

Who should use the HRP Guide and how?

The HRP Guide is for NMP program managers, surveillance and M&E officers, and their implementing partners, including non-governmental organizations, and researchers in countries with low malaria transmission. The guide contains four modules, each of which provides instructions on the methods to gather and analyze the necessary information that will inform a more resilient surveillance and response platform. Not all countries will need to implement all modules.

The MEI requests that national malaria programs and implementing partners contact us when using any of the tools in the Malaria Elimination Toolkit. Support in implementing the tool may also be available. Please contact mei@ucsf.edu.

How has the HRP Guide been adapted?

The HRP Guide Module 1 (Formative Assessment) has been adapted for use by Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) programs. The Introduction document and Implementation Guide can be found below.

HRP Guide

The HRP Guide is available in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.

• Introduction
• HRP Guide Module 1
  • Component 1 - Desk Review Data Template.xlsx
  • Component 1 - Passive Surveillance Data Template.xlsx
  • Component 1 - Active Surveillance Data Template.xlsx
• HRP Guide Module 2
• HRP Guide Module 3
• HRP Guide Module 4
• HRP Guide Summary (2 pages)

French

• Introduction
• HRP Guide Module 1
• HRP Guide Module 2
• HRP Guide Module 3
• HRP Guide Module 4

Portuguese

• Introduction
• HRP Guide Module 1
• HRP Guide Module 2
• HRP Guide Module 3
• HRP Guide Module 4

Spanish

• Introduction
• HRP Guide Module 1
• HRP Guide Module 2
• HRP Guide Module 3
• HRP Guide Module 4

A Neglected Tropical Disease High-Risk Population Formative Assessment Tool

• Introduction
• Implementation Guide