Habitat hydrology and geomorphology control the distribution of malaria vector larvae in rural Africa.

Background: Larval source management is a promising component of integrated malaria control and elimination. This requires development of a framework to target productive locations through process-based understanding of habitat hydrology and geomorphology.

Methods: We conducted the first catchment scale study of fine resolution spatial and temporal variation in Anopheles habitat and productivity in relation to rainfall, hydrology and geomorphology for a high malaria transmission area of Tanzania.

Risk of malaria attacks in Gambian children is greater away from malaria vector breeding sites.

The causes of local variation in the prevalence of malaria were investigated in rural Gambia. Cross-sectional prevalence surveys were carried out among 1184 young children (aged 6 months-5 years) in 48 villages, at the end of the transmission season in 1996. Villages were categorized according to distance from the nearest vector breeding sites, and the patterns of malaria transmission, infection and disease compared.