Abstract: AIM: To establish a comprehensive index system which is suitable for evaluating the effectiveness of malaria surveillance schemes .METHODS: Delphi method was used to screen the existed effectiveness evaluation indices by experts to determine key indices and weighted coefficients. RESULTS: Three indices, i.e. autochthonous incidence, ratio of cases detected (ROCD) and ratio of introduced/imported cases were selected. Their weighted coefficients were 0.36, 0.31 and 0.33, respectively. An index system nam ed them alaria su rveillance effect iveness index (MSEI) was built up and formulated as 2ni= 1Xi·W i which was applied to study cost-effectiveness of the two malaria surveillance schemes (A and B). According to the formula, theM SEIs in the study areas using the schemes A and B were 48156 and 45193, respectively. However, the cost for increasing a score of MSEI by implementing the scheme A was four times as high as that by implementing the scheme B. CONCLUSION: The MSEI is practicable for evaluating the overall effectiveness of malaria surveillance schemes, especially
in the cost-effectiveness analysis and health-economic evaluation.

Key words: Delphi method, malaria surveillance effectiveness index, cost effectiveness analysis