The Vanuatu Ministry of Health aims to eliminate indigenous malaria transmission from Vanuatu
by the end of 2023.
This National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination in Vanuatu considers the findings and
recommendations of a comprehensive Malaria Program Review conducted in 2018 and
extensive follow-up action, health system and financing analysis, impact modelling, and
deliberations by the national Malaria and Other Vector Borne Diseases Control Program and
Provincial Health Managers, with the support of WHO and other key partners.
To achieve its malaria control and elimination targets, the NVBDCP will work in close
partnership with provincial health services to ensure very high levels of prevention – primarily
with long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets – and universal access to quality-assured diagnosis
and treatment are achieved and maintained. It will mobilise local communities and their
representative bodies to adopt healthy behaviours and retain a high level of awareness of the
importance of malaria elimination to Vanuatu. Special attention will be given to employing
innovative approaches towards ensuring safe and effective treatment of Plasmodium vivax with
primaquine, including in remote and outer island settings.
It will strengthen and maintain strong surveillance aimed at rapidly identifying, reporting and
responding to every case, and ensuring that every case is followed up within 60 days.
Building on experience gained from elimination activities in Tafea province, the Program will use
indoor residual insecticide spraying and mosquito breeding site management to selectively
accelerate the reduction in malaria transmission or to mitigate outbreaks in higher incidence
areas (based on increasingly precise stratification), and in transmission foci in elimination
settings and those areas that are already aligned with the prevention of re-introduction and reestablishment
of malaria.
Noting the vulnerability of Vanuatu to natural disasters and consequent population
displacement, the Program and the MOH will work closely with the National Disaster
Management Office to develop and maintain malaria- and VBD-related preparedness and rapid
response mechanisms for affected areas and populations.
Finally, the Program will work with technical and academic partners to learn and apply new
knowledge as it becomes available in order to achieve malaria elimination and prevent its reestablishment
in Vanuatu after elimination of indigenous transmission.