Filling puddles for malaria control

3 Comments Published by naman February 21st, 2009 in Communication, Vector control

“Pool-filling could control malaria” an article at AllAfrica.com says.

True, but so could swatting enough mosquitoes with your hands. The existence of an intervention does not mean its viable. Media communication of science research or public health news (previously discussed here) is consistently poor. To be fair, the environmental control of malaria can be an appropriate tool. Historically, Brazil, Italy, Panama and a few other countries have used it with good success. Why did it work there? First, reducing mosquito density will have little effect on transmission in highly endemic areas, but these countries had the right ecotype. Second, environmental control is labor intensive and requires strong management, both of which were provided through military-style campaigns.