Reports from a wide range of spatial and demographic scales in various geographic settings describe downward trends in clinical falciparum malaria incidence after the deployment of EDT using ACT and RDTs over the last 15 years [
3,
4,
44]. Monitoring in settings where EDT has been consistently available over long periods of time suggests that EDT in combination with vector control measures can achieve near-elimination of falciparum malaria. On the Thai-Myanmar border, 15 years of EDT with ACT in clinics serving migrant and displaced populations drastically reduced the incidence of falciparum malaria [
45,
46]. Malaria elimination efforts in Thailand were largely effective for much of the central plains region of the Kingdom but deteriorated with distance [
47]. Tak Province is an example of a remote malarious region along the Thailand-Myanmar border. In 2001–2002 a community-based EDT strategy (The Tak Malaria Initiative) was deployed in all five sub-districts of the province [
48]. In addition to the 92 existing provincial health facilities, 100 community-based malaria treatment posts were set up in villages and areas where access to health services was low. Over the following 2 years clinical
P. falciparum incidence was reduced by 54 %, malaria-related deaths by 52 % and
P. falciparum prevalence was significantly lower in intervention villages in comparison to controls [
48]. Malaria vectors were still present but the entomological inoculation rate (EIR) was very low [
48]. In Asia, similar declines in morbidity and mortality were reported from Cambodia after country-wide implementation [
49]. Reports of ACT deployment on the African continent are equally encouraging: in the quasi-experimental setting of Dielmo village in Senegal, deployment of ACT at a local clinic in 2006 and mass distribution of LLINs in 2008 impacted both
P. falciparum incidence and prevalence so drastically that in 2012 malaria was nearly eliminated [
50]. Deployment of community-based EDT was also followed by decreases in
P. falciparum-related morbidity, mortality and re-infection in clinical trials [
24‐
26]. After regional implementation, similar decreases in incidence of morbidity and mortality were observed in Kwazulu-Natal [
44] and a decreased prevalence of
P. falciparum infection was reported from Ethiopia [
5].