As the SADC region becomes increasingly integrated, there is now an unprecedented volume of travelers human traffic across the region’s borders. Mobile and migrant populations (both regular and irregular migrants)Migrants—both regular and irregular—who travel easily across the region’s porous borders and facilitate the movement of malaria parasites, thus posing a significant challenge to malaria elimination.
Through the E8, countries are able to collaborate on policy harmonization to address migration and the risk of importation across borders, while upholding principles of cross-border economic cooperation and migrant right to health. Through this regional collaboration, the E8 is embarking on the implementation of a series of mobile health care clinics are strategically located across the sub-regions borders, aiming to expand access to rapid diagnosis and treatment of the mobile and migrant population, thus stemming containing the movement of malaria transmission across borders. This innovative project will address the persistent issue of cross-border malaria transmission and increase the proportion of cases that are detected in a timely manner in order to drain the reservoirs of infectious parasites that contribute to ongoing transmission in countries aiming to eliminate.