Malaria Journal

BackgroundMalaria during pregnancy contributes to maternal anemia and adverse birth outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. This study assessed seasonal malaria burden among pregnant women in Cape Coast, Ghana, during 2019-2021. MethodsRetrospective surveillance analysis of pregnant women attending Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. Malaria was diagnosed by microscopy, and hemoglobin levels were measured. Seasonal trends and demographic characteristics were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-squa...

BackgroundMalaria transmission in Uganda is heterogenous, so the national malaria program needs information about the distribution of malaria to develop appropriate policies. While population-based community surveys estimate Plasmodium falciparum parasite rate (PfPR), they are too infrequent and sparse for routine malaria management. Health facility data is routinely collected and covers a large geographic scope, but the data is collected passively, variable in quality, and potentially highly bi...

BackgroundCambodia has made great progress in reducing malaria transmission and is targeting elimination. While this progress is particularly marked for Plasmodium falciparum, the situation is different for Plasmodium vivax. It is generally assumed that symptomatic patients are effectively diagnosed using rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), regardless of transmission intensity. MethodsIn 2023 we conducted a cross-sectional survey among 986 treatment-seeking patients in 6 provinces of Cambodia with v...

Mosquito-borne diseases (MBDs) remain a significant public health burden worldwide. This study aimed to survey mosquito breeding sites and assess larval distribution within the Sunyani Municipality, Bono Region, Ghana, to understand their potential contribution to disease transmission. A survey of mosquito breeding sites and larval sampling was conducted using a simple random sampling technique during the dry season (December 2019 to February 2020). Daily inspections of habitats were carried ou...

BackgroundPlasmodium vivax (P. vivax) has emerged as the primary cause of malaria in Cambodia. Achieving malaria elimination and securing malaria-free certification requires a focused effort on addressing P. vivax malaria. This is essential because the elimination of P. vivax often lags behind that of Plasmodium falciparum, making it a critical component in the overall strategy. This study assesses the feasibility of the Mass Drug Administration (MDA) and P. vivax Serological Testing and Treatme...

BackgroundMalaria, transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes, remains a major public health challenge in Nigeria, where approximately 97% of the population is at risk. Despite large-scale investments, Nigeria continues to bear the worlds highest malaria burden. Long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) are central to prevention, yet their effectiveness is increasingly undermined by non-usage, delayed replacement, and growing outdoor biting activity. National surveys (MIS, PMI) consistently report ...

BackgroundMalaria vector control using indoor residual spraying (IRS) is a key intervention in the fight against malaria globally. However, IRS is faced with several challenges limiting wide scale deployment especially in sub-Saharan Africa. This study explored community experiences on implementation of IRS using clothianidin-deltamethrin, and pirimiphos-methyl insecticides in west Nile region of Uganda. MethodsUsing a phenomenological design were individuals involved in the implementation of I...

BackgroundKeerom Regency remains one of the high-malaria-endemic regencies in Indonesia. Despite the accelerated malaria elimination strategy underway in Papua, malaria transmission in this regency has not declined. To characterize the entomological and human behavioral factors sustaining and driving malaria transmission, a rapid entomological assessment paired with human behavior observations (HBOs) and household surveys was conducted in five villages of Keerom Regency. MethodsEntomological su...

BackgroundFollowing three rounds of successful Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) implementation in the district of Sakassou (Cote dIvoire), IRS was withdrawn and replaced by insecticide treated nets (ITNs). This study evaluated the entomological and epidemiological impacts of Interceptor (IG2) ITNs distributed in Sakassou, to determine if the protection offered by IG2 nets was adequate to suppress malaria transmission post IRS withdrawal. MethodsThe Vector Control Optimization Model (VCOM) was ada...

Malaria remains a major public health challenge in Nigeria, and increasing climate variability poses substantial threats to recent gains in control. However, malaria transmission does not respond uniformly to climate drivers across epidemiological settings, highlighting the need to explore climate-malaria dynamics within heterogeneous contexts. This study examined the non-stationary temporal dynamics of malaria incidence and two key climatic drivers--rainfall and temperature--in Lagos and Zamfar...

Malaria remains the most significant vector-borne disease worldwide, with over 200 million cases reported annually, causing approximately 0.6 million deaths among children and pregnant women. In Pakistan, particularly in the southern regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, malaria continues to pose a major public health challenge. This study aimed to determine the monthly prevalence of malaria parasites in the population of Dera Ismail Khan and to identify the patterns of parasite transmission. A retrosp...

Progress in malaria control has stagnated since the early 21st century in many countries, requiring new approaches such as the use of spatially-targeted interventions. Evidence on the effectiveness of spatially-targeted interventions is mixed. Their success can be dependent on whether the setting is endemic, the metrics used to target the intervention, and the spatial resolution and scale of deployment. We developed a two-age-class, spatially-explicit model of malaria at the community-scale for ...

Spatially detailed estimates of childhood vaccination coverage are crucial to guide program design, targeting interventions, and evaluating progress within countries. In settings where substantial geographic inequities persist, high-resolution vaccination coverage and corresponding zero-dose maps can be helpful for understanding local patterns and informing strategies to reach underserved or missed populations. In this study, we produce annual 1x1 km and district level estimates of coverage for ...

BackgroundUnderstanding malaria epidemiology in Tanzania is a step toward achieving malaria control and elimination targets by 2030. This meta-analysis derived robust estimates of malaria prevalence and Plasmodium species from studies in Tanzania published from 2014 - 2024. MethodsFollowing the PRISMA guidelines, we searched PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct using the PICOS framework for study selection. We used the Simonian-Laird random-effects model to obtain the pooled malaria preva...

The spread of Anopheles stephensi into the Horn of Africa represents one of the main challenges for malaria control, given the species ecological plasticity and resistance to multiple insecticides. In response to the World Health Organizations 2022 vector alert, an adaptive, model-based spatial surveillance framework was developed and evaluated to improve detection, mapping accuracy, and operational responsiveness during invasion. Adaptive surveillance utilises initial observations to guide subs...

IntroductionIt is estimated that there were 263 million malaria cases and 597,000 deaths in 2023 globally, a substantial proportion of which are attributable to inadequate access to good-quality and efficacious antimalarials. Africa bears the highest malaria burden. Yet despite the high prevalence of substandard and falsified (SF) antimalarials in some African regions, their prevalence across space and time remains poorly understood. MethodsWe extracted data from the Infectious Disease Data Obs...

BackgroundSchistosomiasis control relies on the continued effectiveness of praziquantel (PZQ), yet individual and spatial heterogeneity in PZQ efficacy in the context of repeated mass drug administration (MDA) remains poorly understood. This study aimed to identify individual and spatial determinants of PZQ efficacy against Schistosoma mansoni in rural Uganda. MethodsWe studied 3870 participants aged 5-90 years from 52 villages in Pakwach, Buliisa, and Mayuge districts in Uganda. Participants w...

Collecting water in rural sub-Saharan Africa is primarily performed by women. Climate change may affect water resources, damage infrastructure, and limit availability of water for collection. These changes could affect large numbers of rural households and the amount of time they spend collecting water. This study uses national surveys to assess associations between precipitation, surface runoff, and temperature on water collection labor over a 32-year period in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Our out...

BackgroundThe widespread insecticide resistance increasingly threatens malaria elimination, prompting a reassessment of vector control strategies. As Tanzania transitions from standard pyrethroid-only insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to new-generation nets, evaluating the impact of this shift on malaria transmission and resistance is critical. MethodsUsing the agent-based malaria model, EMOD, we assessed the impact of three ITN types, standard pyrethroid-only nets, pyrethroid-PBO nets (Olyset(R)...

The relationship between malaria entomological indices and epidemiological outcomes remains poorly understood at local scales in western Kenya, limiting evidence-based surveillance strategies. This study evaluated associations between vector densities, entomological inoculation rates (EIR), human biting rates (HBR), and malaria test positivity rates in a high-transmission setting. The study was conducted in five villages within Teso South sub-County, Busia County, Kenya, from March to June 2021....