Effectiveness of Malaria Control in Endemic Provinces under the Global Fund Project, Thailand

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the Global Fund Round 7 malaria project (GFATM-R7) by measuring annual parasite incidence (API) and malaria positive rate (MPR) in 460 malaria-endemic villages. The APIs and MPRs were compared between year 2 (2010) and year 3 (2011) of the five-year project (2009-2013). The data were separately analyzed by province, by border areas, and the whole country. In addition, data were collected by using questionnaire interviewing health officers who were responsible for the targeted villages regarding the cooperation of community in terms of malaria prevention and control to determine its correlation with the project’s success. The results showed that the APIs decreased significantly in four of twenty-eight provinces: Tak, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, and Surin. The APIs reported Thai-Myanmar and Thai-Cambodia borders also significantly decreased. Moreover, the API of overall country was significant decreased (p<0.05). For the MPRs, the comparison showed that the MPRs at all levels (provinces, border areas, and the whole country) were not significantly decreasing. The relationship between the cooperation of community and the successful villages was also not significant (p>0.05). In conclusion, the project could not meet the target in some provinces during the interim period. More efforts should be put in order to reach the targeted outcomes after the full five years of the GFATM-R7 project.