Respondent driven sampling methodology was an effective strategy to study the migrant populations from Myanmar and Cambodia on the Thailand-Cambodia border. Findings suggest that while populations from Myanmar are relatively settled, populations from Cambodia return home with relative frequency, not only to the border areas, but to provinces across Cambodia, indicating a need for heightened surveillance of artemisinin resistance across Cambodia.
However, migration does not appear so frequent as to render case follow-up impossible, and containment of resistance depends on providing diagnostics, treatment, and follow-up to highly mobile migrants as well as to more settled populations.
Population mobility is a fact of global life; addressing the health needs of migrants will not only improve migrant health but also reduce long-term health and social costs and protect public health.
This information on the mobility of cross-border migrants on the Thailand-Cambodia border will be valuable in planning effective malaria prevention and control for the border areas and help move forward the programme goals of containment and elimination of the disease.