Overview of Malaria Rapid Reporting System
Background of Malaria Rapid Reporting System
As countries progress towards malaria elimination, their surveillance systems must become the cornerstone of the elimination framework—all successful disease elimination programs have relied on solid information systems that initially track transmission and subsequently guide prevention and containment of disease reintroduction. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a malaria surveillance system consists of the tools, procedures, people and structures that generate information on malaria cases and deaths, which can be used for planning, monitoring and evaluating malaria control programs. In line with WHO, Zambia is implementing a step wise (component A to E) approach to malaria elimination. All these component anchor on Component B; Build information systems for Action: Quality and timely reporting of infections.
Zambia’s Malaria rapid reporting system for malaria was modeled from WHO malaria surveillance system to provide timely and quality reporting of infections and intervention commodities in the country. It was initiated 2011 to compliment national Health Management Information System (HMIS). This is to improve malaria surveillance and provide a more focused response to the prevailing malaria epidemiological profile at a more granular level.
MRR system also highlights the continued progress being made in reducing malaria burden in more focalized malaria transmission patterns. It further enables faster access to critical information such us;
- Malaria burden
- Malaria testing and
- Treatment commodities.
The MRR system in Zambia is implemented at two levels: health facility and community levels. Health facilities submit a malaria report every week (Monday) while community health workers monthly (by the 4th). This system offers reporting of simplified malaria information sent by mobile phones enabled with either JAVA or Android-based data entry forms to a centralized data server (DHIS2) with pre-programmed data quality and analysis functionality.