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The Evolution of the Malaria Clinic: The Cornerstone of Malaria Elimination in Thailand

Background: Malaria Clinics (MCs) have served communities in Thailand since 1965 and are still playing a critical role in providing early diagnosis and effective treatment of malaria. Methods: We reviewed six decades of published manuscripts, articles, strategies, and plans regarding MC operations i...

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Autores principales: Sudathip, Prayuth, Kitchakarn, Suravadee, Thimasarn, Krongthong, Gopinath, Deyer, Naing, Tinzar, Sajjad, Omar, Hengprasert, Sumetha
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6958345/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31847121
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed4040143
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author Sudathip, Prayuth
Kitchakarn, Suravadee
Thimasarn, Krongthong
Gopinath, Deyer
Naing, Tinzar
Sajjad, Omar
Hengprasert, Sumetha
author_facet Sudathip, Prayuth
Kitchakarn, Suravadee
Thimasarn, Krongthong
Gopinath, Deyer
Naing, Tinzar
Sajjad, Omar
Hengprasert, Sumetha
author_sort Sudathip, Prayuth
collection PubMed
description Background: Malaria Clinics (MCs) have served communities in Thailand since 1965 and are still playing a critical role in providing early diagnosis and effective treatment of malaria. Methods: We reviewed six decades of published manuscripts, articles, strategies, and plans regarding MC operations in Thailand;,and analyzed national program surveillance data in both malaria control and malaria elimination phases. Results: MCs accounted for 39.8% of malaria tests and 54.8% of positive cases by the end of the 1980s. The highest number of MCs established was 544 in 1997. MCs contributed to 6.7% of all tests and 30% of all positive cases over the 2015–2017 period. Between 2017 and June 2019, during the malaria elimination phase, MCs continued to test an average of 67% of all persons tested for malaria, and confirmed 38.3% of all positive cases detected in the country. Conclusions: Testing and positive rates of MCs are on a gradual decline as the overall burden of malaria declines annually, which may reflect decreasing transmission intensity. Although the number of MCs in the last three years has been stable (n = 240), the attrition of MC staff poses a real challenge to the longevity of MCs in the absence of a human resource plan to support the elimination phase. It is necessary to identify and support capacity gaps and needs as MCs are absorbed into an integrated and decentralized program, while ensuring that the Division of Vector Borne Diseases (DVBD) maintains its necessary technical and advisory role.
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spelling pubmed-69583452020-01-23 The Evolution of the Malaria Clinic: The Cornerstone of Malaria Elimination in Thailand Sudathip, Prayuth Kitchakarn, Suravadee Thimasarn, Krongthong Gopinath, Deyer Naing, Tinzar Sajjad, Omar Hengprasert, Sumetha Trop Med Infect Dis Article Background: Malaria Clinics (MCs) have served communities in Thailand since 1965 and are still playing a critical role in providing early diagnosis and effective treatment of malaria. Methods: We reviewed six decades of published manuscripts, articles, strategies, and plans regarding MC operations in Thailand;,and analyzed national program surveillance data in both malaria control and malaria elimination phases. Results: MCs accounted for 39.8% of malaria tests and 54.8% of positive cases by the end of the 1980s. The highest number of MCs established was 544 in 1997. MCs contributed to 6.7% of all tests and 30% of all positive cases over the 2015–2017 period. Between 2017 and June 2019, during the malaria elimination phase, MCs continued to test an average of 67% of all persons tested for malaria, and confirmed 38.3% of all positive cases detected in the country. Conclusions: Testing and positive rates of MCs are on a gradual decline as the overall burden of malaria declines annually, which may reflect decreasing transmission intensity. Although the number of MCs in the last three years has been stable (n = 240), the attrition of MC staff poses a real challenge to the longevity of MCs in the absence of a human resource plan to support the elimination phase. It is necessary to identify and support capacity gaps and needs as MCs are absorbed into an integrated and decentralized program, while ensuring that the Division of Vector Borne Diseases (DVBD) maintains its necessary technical and advisory role. MDPI 2019-12-13 /pmc/articles/PMC6958345/ /pubmed/31847121 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed4040143 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Sudathip, Prayuth
Kitchakarn, Suravadee
Thimasarn, Krongthong
Gopinath, Deyer
Naing, Tinzar
Sajjad, Omar
Hengprasert, Sumetha
The Evolution of the Malaria Clinic: The Cornerstone of Malaria Elimination in Thailand
title The Evolution of the Malaria Clinic: The Cornerstone of Malaria Elimination in Thailand
title_full The Evolution of the Malaria Clinic: The Cornerstone of Malaria Elimination in Thailand
title_fullStr The Evolution of the Malaria Clinic: The Cornerstone of Malaria Elimination in Thailand
title_full_unstemmed The Evolution of the Malaria Clinic: The Cornerstone of Malaria Elimination in Thailand
title_short The Evolution of the Malaria Clinic: The Cornerstone of Malaria Elimination in Thailand
title_sort evolution of the malaria clinic: the cornerstone of malaria elimination in thailand
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6958345/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31847121
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed4040143
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