Vanuatu

Due to programme success of achieving low malaria transmission, Tafea province has been identified for elimination of malaria by 2012 in the Government of Vanuatu Malaria Action Plans (MAP).

Results are presented from 51 surveys, which measured SR and parasite rates (PR) in 29 962 individuals in the archipelago of Vanuatu.

No abstract available.

Malaria in Tanna Island, Vanuatu, has a focal and predominantly coastal distribution. As Vanuatu refines its elimination strategy, malaria risk maps represent an invaluable resource in the strategic planning of all levels of malaria interventions for the island.

In the 1990s, the experience of eliminating malaria from Aneityum Island, Vanuatu is often given as evidence for the potential to eliminate malaria in the south-west Pacific. This experience, however, cannot provide a blueprint for larger islands that represent more complex social and environmental contexts.

The only in vivo malaria drug efficacy trial thus far published from the Republic of Vanuatu showed chloroquine/sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine combination therapy for P. falciparum and chloroquine alone for P. vivax to be highly efficacious.

In the Asia Pacific sites with low and unstable transmission, elimination should be feasible with existing tools. Scaling up of community involvement from simple participation to social participation, where communities involve in health planning functions is necessary from malaria control to malaria elimination.

As P. vivax is more prevalent in seasonal climates and P. falciparum in areas of more consistent rainfall, it is postulated that there will be a correlation between the ratio of vivax:falciparum and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which affects sea surface temperatures and rainfall.