Study context
malaria, hypertension
MALARIA, HYPERTENSION
In the RCT, subdistricts in four of the remaining provinces with active foci in Thailand were included (Kanchanaburi, Mae Hong Son, Tak, Ubon Ratchathani), primarily bordering Myanmar to the west, and bordering Cambodia and Laos in the East. Subdistricts with at least 3 malaria cases between October 2018 and September 2019 were eligible for inclusion and stratified based upon API (high/low), total population (high/low), and geography (west/east). (Fig. Study areas in ThailandThe control arm sub-districts received standard RACD according to national malaria surveillance guidelines [Schematic describing activities in the control and intervention armsIn the intervention arm, RDA was conducted by a public health officer from the nearest health promotion hospital (HPH) (per local public health laws) with support from village health volunteers (VHVs). VHVs are part-time staff paid (1,000 Thai Baht per) to conduct healthcare-related duties in and around the villages where they live, such as hypertension monitoring, malaria treatment follow-up, Covid-19 related tasks, as well as other public health and prevention needs impacting their communities. The target population for the intervention arm was all index patient household members and neighboring household members in the nearest five households from the index patient residence up to 25 individuals within a 1 km radius. All eligible study participants were offered artesunate-mefloquine (AS-MQ) following guidance by the national medicine committee [