Search

Member countries of the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network are pursuing the regional goal of malaria elimination by 2030. The countries are in different phases of malaria elimination, but most have demonstrated success in shrinking the malaria map in the region. However, continued transmission in hard‐to‐reach populations, including border and forest malaria, remains an important challenge. In this article, we review strategies for improving intervention coverage in hard‐to‐reach populations. Currently available preventive measures, including long‐lasting insecticidal nets and long‐lasting insecticidal hammocks, and prompt diagnosis and treatment need to be expanded to hard‐to‐reach populations. This can be done through mobile malaria clinics, village volunteer malaria workers and screening posts. Malaria surveillance in the hard‐to‐reach areas can be enhanced through tools such as spatial decision support systems. Policy changes by the malaria programs will be required for implementing the strategies outlined in this article. However, strategies or tools may be suitable for some population groups but difficult to implement in other groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research with hard‐to‐reach populations is necessary to deepen the social work knowledge base and improve services to these groups, recruiting members of hard‐to‐reach populations for research projects is often a challenging process. Frequently, non‐probability sampling is used to obtain participants. However, the difficulties and limitations associated with this process in quantitative research are rarely discussed in depth in the literature. Sampling issues can significantly impact a research project, delaying it, extending it or even causing the premature termination of a project. Challenges to recruitment can limit the type of research that is completed, impact the knowledge base or introduce threats to validity through sampling bias. Using a preliminary quantitative study on parental engagement with child protective services as an illustration for the discussion, the challenges of non‐probability sampling with a hard‐to‐reach population and the implications for research practice are explored and discussed. Implications for future research practice are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of peer interviewers with privileged access to a particular population group, which is difficult to reach via more conventional methods, has been acknowledged in recent research. This paper explores a number of key issues relating to the employment of peer interviewers by reflecting on a project designed to explore the views and experiences of parents who use illegal drugs. The project presented the research team with a number of challenges. These included the need to provide on-going support for the interviewers, a sense of distance felt by the researchers from the raw data they collected, and the difficulties of gaining from the skills and experiences of peer interviewers without exploiting their labour. The paper also explores the advantages of involving peer interviewers closely in research work and reflects on the nature and boundaries of expert knowledge that can become evident in such collaborations. The need for a certain amount of flexibility over the roles and domains of control that lay experts and researchers traditionally inhabit is suggested. In conclusion, it is argued that the involvement of peer interviewers in research can be a valuable means of enhancing our knowledge and understanding of a variety of population groups who tend to live beyond the gaze of more orthodox researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]