Lessons for improved COVID-19 surveillance from the scale-up of malaria testing strategies

Genevieve Kerr; Leanne J Robinson; Tanya Russell; Joanne Macdonald

doi:10.1186/s12936-022-04240-4

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Lessons for improved COVID-19 surveillance from the scale-up of malaria testing strategies

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Lessons for improved COVID-19 surveillance from the scale-up of malaria testing strategies

Genevieve Kerr, Leanne J Robinson, Tanya Russell and Joanne Macdonald

Malaria Journal, Vol.21, pp.1-10

2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-022-04240-4

PMCID: PMC9296766

PMID: 35858916

Appears in COVID-19 Research

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Abstract

Malaria

COVID-19

Plasmodium

rapid diagnostic test

RDT

Asia Pacific

LMIC

GMS

Effective control of infectious diseases is facilitated by informed decisions that require accurate and timely diagnosis of disease. For malaria, improved access to malaria diagnostics has revolutionized malaria control and elimination programmes. However, for COVID-19, diagnosis currently remains largely centralized and puts many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) at a disadvantage. Malaria and COVID-19 are infectious diseases that share overlapping symptoms. While the strategic responses to disease control for malaria and COVID-19 are dependent on the disease ecologies of each disease, the fundamental need for accurate and timely testing remains paramount to inform accurate responses. This review highlights how the roll-out of rapid diagnostic tests has been fundamental in the fight against malaria, primarily within the Asia Pacific and along the Greater Mekong Subregion. By learning from the successful elements of malaria control programmes, it is clear that improving access to point-of-care testing strategies for COVID-19 will provide a suitable framework for COVID-19 diagnosis in not only the Asia Pacific, but all malarious countries. In malaria-endemic countries, an integrated approach to point-of-care testing for COVID-19 and malaria would provide bi-directional benefits for COVID-19 and malaria control, particularly due to their paralleled likeness of symptoms, infection control strategies and at-risk individuals. This is especially important, as previous disease pandemics have disrupted malaria control infrastructure, resulting in malaria re-emergence and halting elimination progress. Understanding and combining strategies may help to both limit disruptions to malaria control and support COVID-19 control.

Details

Title: Lessons for improved COVID-19 surveillance from the scale-up of malaria testing strategies
Authors: Genevieve Kerr (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Leanne J Robinson (Author) - Burnet Institute
Tanya Russell (Corresponding Author) - James Cook University
Joanne Macdonald (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, GeneCology Research Centre - Legacy
Publication details: Malaria Journal, Vol.21, pp.1-10
Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd.
Date published: 2022
DOI: 10.1186/s12936-022-04240-4
ISSN: 1475-2875
PMID: 35858916; PMC9296766
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99657598402621
Output Type: Journal article

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Web Of Science research areas: Infectious Diseases; Parasitology; Tropical Medicine

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