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There is a continued risk of outbreaks, particularly in the Southern region, due to high-risk behaviors, primarily in remote ethnic communities among forest goers (individuals who regularly work or sleep in the forest), farmers on forest fringes, and vulnerable populations in these highly receptive areas. Conventional malaria control interventions alone in these areas are insufficient to push elimination beyond \u201cthe last mile\u201d. In 2022, an innovative approach to accelerate malaria elimination, termed locally as \u201cAccelerator Strategies\u201d was implemented. Activities included targeted drug administration and intermittent preventive treatment for forest goers and mobile populations, specifically farmers on forest fringes, as chemoprevention among individuals at increased risk of malaria irrespective of infectious status. Community engagement approaches were essential to ensure participation and acceptance as the intervention requires individuals without symptoms to take medicine. Three key enablers for community participation were identified as: (1) Service delivery and community engagement by the community members themselves; (2) Strong advocacy and political commitment from senior local political leaders, and village authorities and influencers and (3) Delivering people-centered services beyond the village with granular local data on risk behaviors, population movement and geographic information system mapping. Early and sustained community engagement resulted in high coverage of the interventions and greater acceptance by the community that resulted in a decreased malaria burden.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1186\/s40249-025-01388-4","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,27]],"date-time":"2025-11-27T02:11:20Z","timestamp":1764209480000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Early and sustained community engagement to reach unreached populations for malaria elimination in Lao People\u2019s Democratic Republic"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Sanjeev Ranjan","family":"Roy","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Virasack","family":"Banouvong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elizabeth","family":"Hoban","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Boualam","family":"Khamlome","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Keobouphaphone","family":"Chindavongsa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Inpanh","family":"Inthirath","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Silivon","family":"Inthivong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Khamfeuang","family":"Sibounheuang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Khonephanom","family":"Akavong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tran Thi Giang","family":"Huong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rajendra Prasad Hubraj","family":"Yadav","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pascal","family":"Ringwald","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"James F.","family":"Kelley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Phonepadith","family":"Xangsayarath","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matthew Scott","family":"Shortus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1024-5039","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rita","family":"Reyburn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,27]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"1388_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1366136","DOI":"10.1080\/16549716.2017.1366136","volume":"10","author":"B Adhikari","year":"2017","unstructured":"Adhikari B, Pell C, Phommasone K, Soundala X, Kommarasy P, Pongvongsa T, et al. Elements of effective community engagement: Lessons from a targeted malaria elimination study in Lao PDR (Laos). Glob Health Action. 2017;10(1):1366136.","journal-title":"Glob Health Action"},{"issue":"2","key":"1388_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2023-081982","volume":"14","author":"KR Awasthi","year":"2024","unstructured":"Awasthi KR, Jancey J, Clements ACA, Rai R, Leavy JE. Community engagement approaches for malaria prevention, control and elimination: a scoping review. BMJ Open. 2024;14(2):e081982.","journal-title":"BMJ Open"},{"issue":"1","key":"1388_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"245","DOI":"10.1186\/s12936-019-2878-8","volume":"18","author":"K Baltzell","year":"2019","unstructured":"Baltzell K, Harvard K, Hanley M, Gosling R, Chen I. What is community engagement and how can it drive malaria elimination? Case studies and stakeholder interviews. 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