Last Updated: 11/11/2025
Scientific bases for the elimination of residual malaria in the Brazilian Amazon
Objectives
*Original title in Portuguese: Bases científicas para a eliminação da malária residual na Amazônia Brasileira
This project combines classical epidemiological approaches to characterize risk factors and identify possible targets for intervention, with studies of genetics and population genomics of parasites and of biology and vector control, in order to contribute to the elaboration of more effective strategies for the control and elimination of malaria in Brazil.
With 143,910 laboratory confirmed cases and 41 deaths associated with malaria in 2014, Brazil now has the lowest malaria burden in 35 years, with transmission virtually restricted to the Legal Amazon. In this context, the Brazilian Ministry of Health launched in November 2015 the Plan for the Elimination of Malaria in Brazil, with the short-term objective of interrupting the transmission of Plasmodium falciparum in the next 15 years. The focal nature of malaria in the country indicates that its elimination depends on the prioritization of a small number of outbreaks of transmission. This study is complemented with mathematical modeling of different malaria elimination scenarios in the country. Field activities are concentrated in the Juruá Valley, which accounts for 20% of malaria cases in Brazil. This addresses two main challenges: (a) the persistence of asymptomatic infections, which often present parasitic load below the threshold of available diagnostic tests, forming a reservoir of infection invisible to the health system, and (b) maintaining high vectors, especially due to the emergence of new artificial breeding grounds resulting from human action on the environment.
Jun 2017 — May 2022
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