Eliminating malaria (case study 9): Climbing towards elimination in Bhutan

The WHO Global Malaria Programme and the Global Health Group at the University of California in San Francisco, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, launched a new series of case-studies on malaria elimination: Eliminating malaria. In this series, national malaria control programmes and researchers generate new evidence about what works – and what does not – for reaching and sustaining zero malaria transmission.

The objective of this case-study series is to build an evidence base to support intensification of malaria elimination as an important step in achieving international malaria targets. Ten case-studies were prepared and all together provide insights into and lessons to be learned from a wide range of elimination approaches and geographical settings.

The UCSF Global Health Group collaborated with the Vector-borne Disease Control Programme (VDCP) of Bhutan and the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) on this case-study. Bhutan has made tremendous progress towards malaria elimination, yet the country’s experiences have not been well documented. The main authors of the case-study collaborated in the data collection process, focusing on the progress made since 1995. This case-study considers the effective measures of the malaria control programme that have brought Bhutan
to the brink of success, focusing particularly on the challenge of malaria importation.