MIS Survey Resources
	Survey Related Publications MIS Final Reports as well as other related reports, dissemination materials, and research papers are available from the Publications Archive. Related Topics in DHS Surveys Malaria

Every year, malaria kills more than 1,000,000 people worldwide.  Young children are most at risk, but adults are also affected, resulting in major economic losses from missed work and household expenditures for drugs and medical fees.  Understanding the extent of the disease, the frequency of preventive practices, and the use of antimalarial medicines is essential for developing and evaluating effective interventions.

The Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) provides much needed information about use of bednets, prevention of malaria during pregnancy, prompt and effective treatment of fever in young children, indoor residual spraying of insecticide to kill mosquitos.  The MIS was developed by the Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group (MERG) of Roll Back Malaria (www.rollbackmalaria.org), an international partnership developed to coordinate global efforts to fight malaria.  A stand-alone household survey, the MIS collects national and regional or provincial data from a representative sample of respondents. The survey is designed to help national malaria control programs and international health organizations advance the centuries-old struggle against this common and deadly disease. MEASURE DHS chairs the MERG Survey and Indicator Guidance Task Force  and has been a major contributor to the development of the MIS package. The MIS package includes questionnaires, manuals, and guidelines that are based on Demographic and Health Surveys materials.  MEASURE DHS is also active in the implementation of the Malaria Indicator Survey.

MIS Topics MIS collects data on all of the internationally recognized malaria indicators including:

• household ownership of insecticide-treated bednets and their use by children under five years of age and pregnant women;
• intermittent preventive treatment against malaria during pregnancy; and
• the type and timing of treatment of high fever in children under five years of age;
• indoor residual spraying of insecticide to kill mosquitos

The survey gathers additional information on indoor residual spraying (IRS), and background data on the characteristics of household members and ownership of household assets such as electricity, bicycles, radios, and indoor plumbing.   Many of the questions in the MIS instrument were derived from the Demographic and Health Surveys and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (www.childinfo.org).

Malaria Prevalence Depending on the needs of the country, the MIS can also include measurement of malaria parasites and anemia (a common result or malaria) among household members most at risk--children under five years and pregnant women.  Specially trained interviewers take a few drops of blood from the fingers of eligible respondents who consent to the tests. The blood is immediately tested for anemia in the field and the results are provided to respondents within a few minutes.  Blood can be tested for malaria parasites with either a rapid diagnostic test in the field or microscopy in a laboratory. To date, anemia testing has been conduced in more than 50 DHS surveys and malaria prevalence has been tested in the MIS in Angola. Talks are underway to include biomarker testing in Liberia, Senegal, and Uganda.. 

Timing of the MIS: Unlike the DHS, which is carried out at various times during the year, the MIS is usually timed to correspond with the high malaria transmission season.  This is essential if the MIS includes biomarker testing for malaria.

Current MIS The MIS is still a new survey.  To date the MIS has been carried out in Zambia, Angola, and Senegal.  Additional surveys are underway in Tanzania and Uganda.

Conducting an MIS  To help countries and organizations conduct an MIS, the  Roll Back Malaria partnership has developed an MIS package (www.rollbackmalaria.org/merg_surveytaskforce.html).  This package contains guidelines, questionnaires, and manuals to support the conduct of the survey as well as recommended tabulations for analyzing the data.