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Abstract This article explains how making a disease notifiable by law is a core component of a robust and well‐functioning health system. Mechanisms to rapidly detect and report existing or emerging infectious diseases in a timely manner are key to disease control and elimination. Using malaria in Asia‐Pacific as a case in point, we explore different policy considerations involved in making malaria a notifiable disease. These include the timing of legislative changes at different stages of elimination, investing in adequate infrastructure for a robust surveillance system that can support targeted interventions, and the importance of involving all sectors in the delivery of malaria services to detect, report and respond to every case. The article explains how frameworks to report on notifiable diseases, in this case malaria, contribute to improved regional health security.