Epidemiology of Imported Malaria in Netrokona District of Bangladesh 2013-2018: Analysis of Surveillance Data

INTRODUCTION: Netrokona is one of the first phase malaria elimination targeted 8 districts of Bangladesh by 2021. The district constitutes only 7% of the population but contributes half of the malaria cases in that area. Most of the cases of that district are imported from Meghalaya State of India. The study was conducted to understand the epidemiology of these imported malaria cases for further strategy development to prevent both imported and introduced cases. METHODOLOGY: The study was retrospectively conducted on the malaria cases confirmed by microscopy and/or RDT by the government and/or NGO service providers between 2013 and 2018. The information of the cases was collected from the verbal "investigation" report of individual malaria confirmed cases. The respondents of the "investigation" were either the patients or their family members. Out of the 713 cases during the study period, descriptive analysis of 626 cases (based on the completeness of "investigation form") of the district was done using MS Excel version 2016. RESULTS: is similar in both cases. CONCLUSION: Imported malaria is an emerging issue that has a potential risk of increased local transmission which might be a challenge to malaria elimination in that area. Appropriate interventions targeting the cross-border workers are essential to prevent the introduced cases and subsequently avoid reestablishment when elimination of the disease is achieved.