Behavioural Perspectives of Control and Elimination of Communicable Diseases

Sustainable Development Goal 3.3 targets to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases, and other communicable diseases by 2030. To achieve this target, global, regional, and sub-regional efforts and investments in the control and elimination of these diseases have resulted in a commendable decline in case incidence and mortality caused by communicable diseases. However, they remain major global health problems, particularly in low and middle-income countries. For instance, malaria remains one of the ten top causes of death in low-income countries. In 2020, the global malaria cases were estimated at 241 million in 85 endemic countries, a 6.2% rise from 227 million in 2019, and 7.6% from 224 million in 2015. A major weak link in the control and elimination strategies in many countries is the limited or no attention to behavior change and community involvement. The effectiveness of highly efficient preventive and treatment tools will be low if the populations exposed to the disease do not use them. This session seeks innovative papers of any design from academia, policymakers, and non-governmental experts in any aspect of communicable disease control and elimination from the demand, supply, and human rights perspectives. Of particular interest are papers from low and middle-income countries that adopt behavioural and participatory action research perspectives. Submissions from countries that have successfully eliminated any of the communicable diseases are welcome to showcase the route to elimination, lessons for other countries, and strategies to sustain the disease-free status.