T3: Test. Treat. Track initiative

On World Malaria Day 2012, WHO launched a new initiative called T3: Test. Treat. Track, urging malaria-endemic countries, donors and the global malaria community to scale up diagnostic testing, treatment and surveillance for malaria. This global initiative was developed to provide a framework for endemic countries to strengthen these three fundamental pillars of malaria control and elimination. T3 was launched by Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, at an event in Windhoek, Namibia, hosted by Richard Kamwi, Minister of Health of Namibia.

T3: Test. Treat. Track. anchors the key policy messages of WHO’s recommendations on diagnostic testing, treatment and surveillance, i.e. that every suspected malaria case should be tested, every confirmed case should be treated with a quality-assured antimalarial medicine, and the disease should be tracked through a timely and accurate surveillance system.

Accurate diagnosis will significantly improve the quality of care and ensure that antimalarial medicines are used rationally and correctly. The scale-up of quality-assured antimalarials in the public and private sectors will ensure that all malaria patients receive prompt treatment. Improved surveillance for malaria cases and deaths will help ministries of health to determine which areas or population groups are most affected and help target resources to where they are most needed.

T3 has been built on a foundation of the following core WHO documents: