Table 1. Criteria evaluating the suitability of EAGs for malaria surveillance.

Attribute	Definition
Suitability
Usefulness	Contributes to understanding the epidemiology of malaria in the study area. Generates a suitable prompt public health response by impacting policies and/or control response.
Cost-effective	The direct and indirect costs should be justifiable in relation to the benefits attained.
Quality
Sensitivity	The ability of the surveillance system to measure presence of relevant impact indicators.
Specificity	The ability of the surveillance system to identify the absence of relevant impact indicators.
Representativeness	Accurately reflects the spatio-temporal distribution of key health events and uptake of public health control measures in the population or key at-risk groups.
Timeliness	Ability to provide timely estimates of key health events to guide control efforts.
Simplicity	Easy to understand and implement.
Flexibility	Ability to be easily adapted to include new or emerging problems, other health events, population sub-groups or key disease at-risk groups.
Acceptability	Willingness of persons conducting surveillance and those providing data to generate accurate, consistent and timely data. Acceptability to other key stakeholders, the community, health planners, donors, etc.