Targeted malaria elimination interventions reduce Plasmodium falciparum infections up to 3 kilometers away.

In settings where malaria transmission is declining and approaching elimination, new malaria cases are clustered in space and time. Prior studies have found that targeting prophylactic antimalarial drugs and vector control in the area around newly detected malaria cases reduced community-wide malaria. Here, we found that when antimalarials and vector control were delivered as a combined strategy in the area near recent cases, malaria incidence was reduced up to 3 kilometers away among individuals who did not receive interventions. Accounting for these benefits to non-recipients increased cost-effectiveness of the intervention. Overall, our findings suggest that combined, targeted malaria interventions can reduce local transmission and support their use for malaria elimination.