Malaria parasite genetic data, incorporated into surveillance programs, can inform decision-making of malaria control programs by describing the Plasmodium falciparum population structure and relatedness to understand transmission dynamics [2–6], track the spread of antimalarial resistance markers over space and time [2,7,8], or monitoring markers of diagnostic resistance (e.g., hrp2/3 deletions) [9]. Here, HDGFL2 is linked to malaria.