Malaria continues to be a major global health problem, with over 40% of the world's population-more than 3.3 billion people-at risk for malaria to varying degrees in countries with on-going transmission. In addition, with modern, rapid means of travel, large numbers of people from nonmalarious areas are being infected, which may seriously affect them after they have returned home.

Achieving adequate concentrations of antimalarial drugs in the blood is pivotal to curing malaria. Accurate measurement of drug concentrations is essential to ensure optimal dosing of the currently available and newly introduced antimalarial drugs and for differentiating inadequate exposure to a drug from true resistance to the drug.

The purpose of this document is to help those involved in planning, promoting and implementing insecticide-treated netting (ITN) programmes make systematic decisions about how to target public funds effectively. It is based on a week of intensive dialogue-reflecting field experiences in 12 African countries-at a workshop on Mapping models for targeted ITN subsidies.

The aim of this interagency manual is to provide policy, strategy, technical and operational guidance to countries wishing to strengthen or set up routine malaria diagnostic services. These services include the use of both microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) at all levels for the management of febrile patients by health workers and are integrated within other national programmes for strengthening laboratory services.

WHO recommendations on the use of pesticides in public health are valid ONLY if linked to WHO specifications for their quality control.