TY - JOUR T1 - For malaria elimination India needs a platform for data integration JF - BMJ Global Health JO - BMJ Global Health DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004198 VL - 5 IS - 12 SP - e004198 AU - Manju Rahi AU - Amit Sharma Y1 - 2020/12/01 UR - http://gh.bmj.com/content/5/12/e004198.abstract N2 - Summary boxMalaria remains a significant public health problem in India as it contributes >85% of estimated cases in South East Asia and almost half of all Plasmodium vivax cases globally.There is a multiplicity of malaria stakeholders in India that include public sector agencies, private healthcare providers, defence forces, railways, industry, independent researchers and control programmes that at times operate in silos and this leads to fragmented data inputs and interpretation.Lack of an established near real-time case-based surveillance system further challenges the ability to mount a cohesive and integrated malaria elimination agenda.There is an urgent need to reformulate the boundaries of individual stakeholders and initiate a system that will allow them to coalesce data into a digital integrated platform.Such a platform will provide near real-time epidemiological, entomological and commodity surveillance data that will be of immediate use to all stakeholders and will allow transparent and evidence-based formulation of malaria control policies.Despite a substantial decline in global burden of malaria, it remains one of the most significant public health problems in Africa and South Asia. Malaria incidence has declined globally between 2010 and 2018 from 71 to 57 cases per 1000 population at risk but the pace of reduction has slowed between 2014 to 2018. An estimated ~228 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide in 2018 with WHO South East Asia region contributing 3.4% of the burden. Almost 85% of all malaria cases globally were borne by 18 African countries and by India, that additionally accounts for nearly half (47%) of all Plasmodium vivax cases globally.1As malaria endemic countries shift their goal post from limiting morbidity and mortality (malaria control) to zero-incidence of indigenous case (malaria elimination) it becomes imperative that approaches and strategies also evolve in concert. There is thus clearly a need for the malaria … ER -