In Madagascar and Cambodia, I have carried out complementary studies based on molecular diagnostic strategies and field surveys, with the aim of improving our understanding of the epidemiological characteristics of malaria endemicity and helping policy makers to implement elimination plans. In particular, studies focusing on epidemiological links between human hosts and susceptibility to P. vivax malaria have shown that P. vivax in Madagascar causes blood-stage infection and clinical disease in Duffy-negative individuals. In Cambodia, my recent research on P. falciparum drug resistance has focused on the development of new in vitro assays to better characterise P. falciparum isolates resistant to artemisinin or piperaquine. My major achievements have been to demonstrate that mutations in the propeller domain of a kelch gene located on chromosome 13 (K13) and amplification of the plasmepsin II and III genes are major determinants of artemisinin and piperaquine resistance, respectively. The KARMA project, which I led, has provided a global mapping of K13 polymorphisms through an international collaborative effort.