Application of an innovative grid-based surveillance strategy to ensure elimination and prevent reintroduction of malaria in high-risk border communities in China.

ABSTRACT

Grid management is a grassroots governance strategy widely implemented in China since 2004 to improve the government's efficiency to actively find and solve problems among populated regions. A grid-based strategy surveillancing high-risk groups, including mobile and migrant populations (MMPs), in the China-Myanmar border region has played an indispensable role in promoting and consolidating the malaria elimination efforts by tracking and timely identification of potential importation or re-establishment of malaria among MMPs. A sequential mixed methods was implementated to explore the operational mechanism and best practices of the grid-based strategy including through the focus group discussions (FGDs), comparison of before and after the implementation of a grid-based strategy in the field sites, and data collection from the local health system.This paper distills the implementation mechanism and highlights the role of the grid-based strategy in the elimination and prevention of re-establishment of malaria transmission.