Integrated Public Health Approaches to Biomonitoring and Control of Emerging Parasitic Infections in Tropical Regions

Abstract

The problem of parasitic infections is one of the longest-running public health issues of tropical areas, with more than 1.5 billion individuals at risk across the world and very vulnerable groups being disproportionately affected by the problem. Despite decades of vertical disease control programs, there are still several new and re-emerging parasitic diseases that pose health security issues due to the intricate links between climate change, urbanization and population displacement, as well as compromised health systems. The conventional methods of surveillance and control, which are usually disease and department-specific and fragmented, have not been effective in responding to the complexity of these infections. This is a review of evidence on integrated public health approaches that involve the combination of both biomonitoring and multisectoral control interventions in tropical settings. We analyzed peer review material and programmatic reports published between 2010 and 2025 and concentrated on the innovations in the field of molecular diagnostics, digital surveillance systems, community-based surveillance systems, and systemic approaches to managing the vectors. We find that there is an overarching similarity in successful programs that include high intersectoral collaboration, community ownership, adaptive management systems, and exploitation of emerging technologies. The environmental DNA surveillance and molecular xenomonitoring have improved the early detection, and the mobile health platform has revolutionized real-time reporting in resource-constrained environments. Combined strategies using mass drug administration with water, sanitation and hygiene measures have synergistic effects with up to 65 percent larger disease prevalence reductions than individual interventions. Nevertheless, there are still substantial implementation obstacles, such as poor laboratory capacity, dysfunctional health information systems and lack of sustainable financing systems. This review presents a broad framework on how to enhance integrated parasitic disease control programs and gives key research priorities on the improvement of biomonitoring science from a global health security perspective.