Six challenges in the eradication of infectious diseases

• Dynamical shifts at low levels of infection pose challenges to eradication efforts.
• Incorporating economics into dynamic models is key for improving control.
• Heterogeneity in susceptibility and connectivity poses data and modelling challenges.
• Modelling can improve surveillance and monitoring during and after the endgame.

Eradication and elimination are increasingly a part of the global health agenda. Once control measures have driven infection to low levels, the ecology of disease may change posing challenges for eradication efforts. These challenges vary from identifying pockets of susceptibles, improving monitoring during and after the endgame, to quantifying the economics of disease eradication versus sustained control, all of which are shaped and influenced by processes of loss of immunity, susceptible build-up, emergence of resistance, population heterogeneities and non-compliance with control measures. Here we discuss how modelling can be used to address these challenges.