[Malaria in the central highlands of Madagascar: control strategies]

The purpose of this article is to present data on malaria in the central highland plateaux of Madagascar and strategies to improve the national malaria control program. Use of rapid diagnosis strips, early home-based fever management with pre-packaged chloroquine treatment kits and proposed new therapeutic combination based on artemisinine are discussed for management of patients with high suspicion of malaria attack. Preventive measures including alternated targeted and full-house indoor spraying for vector control, use of insecticide-impregnated bednets, implementation of intermittent preventive treatment in risk groups, optimization of the epidemic early detection and warning system using the Lot Quality Assurance Sampling method for epidemiological investigation if the alert threshold is exceeded, and provision of rapid diagnosis strips are presented.