Improving the quality and quantity of malaria relevant information

Accurate health information is the cornerstone of effective decision-making and the reliable assessment of disease burden. 

Malaria control in Africa will benefit from better information, which can be used to justify and target resources, sustain gains and preserve malaria control tools. 

Global donor community and ministries of health need to be able to justify increased investment for malaria control through strong, evidence-based business cases that are grounded in reliable epidemiological evidence. These actors need to be able to assess the coverage and impact of current investments, predict the likely needs and impact of future investments and demonstrate what might happen should funding and intervention coverage decline. 

As malaria decreases, heterogeneity in its transmission becomes more apparent and the need grows to target control efforts. It is increasingly important to share data and understanding across national borders to counter the threats of drug and insecticide resistance.

A considerable amount of data relevant to malaria control already exists in countries, but many times data is overlooked because it is not organised in a way that can be used to guide decision-making.

The LINK programme aims to assemble this existing data and present it in a way that informs malaria control. By working with National Malaria Programmes and stakeholders in highly malaria-burdened countries, LINK aims to increase the use of data to guide policy and operational decisions.