Malaria Policy Advisory Committee to the WHO: conclusions and recommendations of eighth biannual meeting (September 2015)

The Malaria Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC) to the World Health Organization held its eighth meeting in Geneva, Switzerland from 16 to 18 September 2015. This article provides a summary of the discussions, conclusions and meeting recommendations. Meeting sessions included: recommendations from the Evidence Review Group (ERG) on mass drug administration; recommendations from the ERG on malaria in pregnancy; recommendations on when to scale back vector control; feedback on the Plasmodium vivax technical brief and the recommendation for G6PD testing before treatment; updates on artemisinin and artemisinin-based combination therapy resistance and the Greater Mekong Subregion elimination strategy; an update from the working group on malaria terminology; and updates on malaria elimination in the World Health Organization European region, the ERG on malaria elimination, and World Health Organization reform to support innovation, efficiency and quality in vector control tools. Policy statements, position statements, and guidelines that arise from the MPAC meeting conclusions and recommendations will be issued formally and disseminated to World Health Organization Member States by the World Health Organization Global Malaria Programme.