Aim: To establish a comprehensive index system which is suitable for evaluating the effectiveness of malaria surveillance schemes.
Methods: Delphi method was used to screen the existed effectiveness evaluation indices by experts to determine key indices and weighted coefficients.
Results: Three indices, i.e. autochthonous incidence, ratio of cases detected (ROCD) and ratio of introduced/imported cases were selected. Their weighted coefficients were 0.36, 0.31 and 0.33, respectively. An index system named the malaria surveillance effectiveness index (MSEI) was built up and formulated as [formula: see text] which was applied to study cost-effectiveness of the two malaria surveillance schemes (A and B). According to the formula, the MSEIs in the study areas using the schemes A and B were 48.56 and 45.93, respectively. However, the cost for increasing a score of MSEI by implementing the scheme A was four times as high as that by implementing the scheme B.
Conclusion: The MSEI is practicable for evaluating the overall effectiveness of malaria surveillance schemes, especially in the cost-effectiveness analysis and health-economic evaluation.