**Conflict of interest**

Worldwide, some of the innovations adopted for prevention, control, and eventual elimination of malaria transmission during the past ~10 years have included the development and deployment of LLINs [158, 159], the completion and exploration of many mosquito and parasite genomes [160–163], major progress on genome editing in vector mosquitoes [164–166], new interventions such as house eaves [167] and push-pull systems [168], and better evaluation of larval source management (LSM) as a potential component of integrated control management systems [169]. Global policies and recommendations provide a useful framework and roadmap guided by the Global Technical Strategy of Malaria Control and Elimination (2016–2025), a reconsideration of the vectorial capacity formula for elimination [170] and the

During the same 10-year timeframe, several novel tools and strategies have been envisaged that focus on the Neotropical malaria control and eradication landscape: (1) successful colonization of the main malaria vector *Ny. darlingi* [171, 172]; (2) development of predictive models on climate change scenarios for Neotropical malaria vectors and *Plasmodium* [18, 19]; and (3) collection of baseline larval habitat characteristics in malaria endemic regions that can guide larval source reduction [29, 48, 58, 173] and may prove effective as part of a broader array of vector interventions in certain landscape types such as abandoned gold mining pools [174]

The most serious challenge to malaria eradication in South America from the viewpoint of vector control is that most vector species are primarily exophilic, often exophagic, and frequently bite early in the evening. Therefore, it is essential to determine and monitor the local

**2.** Ongoing training programs for vector biologists and promoting community participation;

**3.** Use of species distribution models to map potential distribution and epidemiology to

**4.** New efforts to control exophagic vectors and targeting aquatic stages should be part of

We thank Sara Bickersmith, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, USA and Catharine Prussing, Department of Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York-Albany,

integrated control and elimination programs that prioritize hot-spots;

**5.** More accurate and timely identification of transmission in hot-spots;

**6.** Routine evaluation of application strategies and insecticide resistance.

Identified gaps in vector interventions throughout South American endemic areas are:

Plan for Elimination of Malaria in Brazil (UN/OMS 2015; [4]).

**1.** Sustained funding for vector surveillance and intervention;

and possibly commercial fish ponds [31].

298 Towards Malaria Elimination - A Leap Forward

biting behavior of a mosquito vector species.

focus interventions and planning;

**Acknowledgements**

The authors declare no conflict of interest.
