On 1—3 November, the APMEN Surveillance and Response Working Group, chaired by Dr Rattanaxay Phetsavanh, Director General of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control, Ministry of Health Lao PDR, and Prof. Richard Maude, Head of the Epidemiology Department at Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, organized its virtual annual meeting with the theme of ‘Data to Elimination: Prioritizing Gaps in Research and Capacity Development for Surveillance and Response’.

This year’s annual meeting convened colleagues and partners across the globe - from national malaria programmes in the Asia-Pacific, partner institutions, funding agencies, the private sector, and researchers to collaborate around three primary objectives:

• Building capacity through research: To discuss, identify and prioritize what research is needed to support malaria elimination in the Asia-Pacific region
• Building capacity through data quality and technology: To identify solutions for improving data quality and integration for malaria surveillance and response
• Building capacity through training: To identify ways to strengthen capacity to utilize data for action

127 actively engaged in the discussions. Collectively, the working group arrived at critical action points, including broad dissemination of research priorities, leveraging country successes to address challenges, and strengthening and sustaining capacity of national malaria staff to use data, perform analysis, and develop response strategies. The strong resolve of the working group accelerates our regional fight against malaria in a time marked by a pandemic.

Day 1 Highlights

The annual meeting began with Dr Rattanaxay and Amita’ s welcome remarks and Prof Richard presentation of the 3-day agenda. Dr Abdul Majeed, Advisor Malaria (Policy & Strategy) from Directorate of Malaria Control in Pakistan, chaired the first day session on “building capacity through research” where the group focused at identifying research needs to support malaria elimination.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to remain vigilant and adaptive to changing public health landscapes. The strength of our programmes have been tested over the past two years and we share a common challenge to maintain the hard-fought progress achieved in pre-pandemic times. Since the last annual meeting in 2018, the context for our fight against malaria has changed significantly, and so will our efforts. Our goal is to re-orient the working group priorities based on the programmes’ needs regarding malaria surveillance activities. With your feedback and guidance, we wish to strengthen the SRWG as a platform for impact.” Dr Rattanaxay Phetsouvanh, Director General of CDC, Lao PDR / Chair of SRWG

“In the next phase of our work together at APMEN, our focus should be on specific elements of integration and what those elements look like. The working groups and APMEN platform have done a tremendous job of sharing information and being a platform for technical exchange. But, in addition to exchange of information, how can we make that shift to implementation to country support? As the national malaria programs progress towards elimination, what support do they need in terms of capacity strengthening, introduction of new technologies or even around data and surveillance system?” Amita Chebbi, Senior Director of APMEN and APLMA

Emerging key themes from the Day 1 focused on research priorities such as strategies for mobile/migrant populations, cross-border surveillance, integration into the wider health system, and radical cure of P. vivax. From all the research priorities submissions, the group voted to derive a region-wide list of research priorities needed to support elimination.

Day 2 Highlights

Dr Siv Sovannaroth, Chief of  Technical  Bureau &  Malaria  Program  Manager of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control in Cambodia, chaired the second day which focused on “building capacity through data quality and technology”. The first session on data quality and integration of malaria surveillance featured two short talks on the WHO Malaria Surveillance Assessment Toolkit and the use of entomological surveillance for programme response. A group work activity shortly followed to discuss key challenges and barriers in ensure high quality of data for malaria surveillance and integrating epidemiological and entomological data. The brainstorming also delved on identifying solutions with real world examples.

Day two ended with a lightning talk session on technical solutions for malaria elimination, with presentations on the WHO-CHAI collaboration on development of a suit of digital tools for case-based surveillance; the use of DHIS2 metadata toolkit for malaria elimination; smartphone technology for community health and MIS integration in Cambodia; and  Google Data Studio and MyMaps for case based surveillance and drug stock monitoring in elimination settings in Sri Lanka.

Day 3 Highlights

Dr Luciano Tuseo, WHO Mekong Malaria Elimination Coordinator, chaired the final day of the convening. He led the way forward planning as the working group review the upcoming SRWG training activities under the theme of “building capacity through training”. The final session commenced with a presentation introducing the RBM Surveillance Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group, who spoke about upcoming initiatives that will also include training resources accessible to partners in the Asia-Pacific.

Before segueing into the final group work activity, APMEN SRWG presented the findings from the training needs assessment survey and follow-up interviews conducted by the coordination team. Top clusters of training topics identified including entomological surveillance, data utilization and basic statistical analysis, case and foci investigation, and mapping and GIS were further explored in breakout groups to scope for relevant content to include and preferences with regards to the target groups, format, and timeline for training delivery.

Way forward

As closing, Prof Richard shared a summary of  key action areas and highlighted the top themes and research topics that emerged from the survey launched at the end of day one, in support of creating a region-wide list of research priorities needed to support elimination.

Key calls to action include:

• Build capacity for elimination through research by openly and widely disseminating identified research priorities for the region
• Build capacity for elimination through data quality and technology by reviewing and addressing key challenges and barriers raised by national programs. Explore examples in countries where either has been implemented successfully to leverage the success and learnings from these countries and share with a wider audience 
• Build capacity for elimination through training by strengthening capacity of national malaria staff to use data, perform analysis, and develop response strategies

Dr Rattanaxay concluded the meeting by thanking all the participants – both country partners and partner institutions. The country partners contributed to the design of the working group’s activities and shaped its direction by providing their surveillance and response priority needs in country. For colleagues from partner institutions, the technical expertise, recommendation and feedback were of high value. Through the collaborative efforts of APMEN’s Surveillance and Response Working Group’s experts, our elimination goals are – without a doubt - within reach.

Recordings: Day 1, Day 2 (first session & last session) and Day 3.