Malaria data platforms and nationally driven analytics in the MENA Region

The Malaria data platforms and nationally driven analytics to understand receptivity and recession in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region is a collaborative project between the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, the Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE) and ministries of health from across the Region. It aims to develop the Region’s first integrated malaria knowledge platform and database to guide strategies to prevent the reestablishment of local malaria transmission.

The platform brings together over 100 years of historical data, with maps of vector habitats and environmental risk factors, to create a regional archive that supports evidence-based planning and cross-border collaboration.

Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE)

Objectives of the project
The overall objective of the project is to strengthen malaria data platforms and nationally driven analytics to better understand receptivity and recession across MENA.

The project aims to

• Compile historical and recent data on anopheline vector distribution from published and unpublished sources across the MENA region.
• Retrieve and digitize consultant reports, national archives and library collections containing data on malaria vectors from WHO, ministries of health and universities.
• Build a geocoded database of dominant and secondary malaria vectors.
• Review historical pre-elimination and control maps and link them to modern satellite data and biotic features to define the natural extent of malaria transmission in the Region.
• Assemble a regional geocoded inventory of malaria data to support national programmes to prevent reintroduction and malaria elimination certification.
• Engage with national malaria control programmes and WHO country offices to validate data, identify gaps and update national malaria profiles.
• Create a sustainable malaria data platform and knowledge-sharing system to support evidence-based decision making and regional collaboration.

Project reports
Regional meeting report for countries of the Middle East and North Africa on the prevention of re‑establishment of local transmission of malaria

Related links
WHO Malaria Threat Map

Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit

Global Biodiversity Information Facility

University of Oxford

Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI).