Quantitative assessment of metal contamination and associated pollution risk in sediments from the Mara River in Tanzania.

For most rivers in sub-Saharan Africa, information about pollution indices related to sediments is sparse. Sedimentological research of rivers that empty into Lake Victoria is highly patchy and wide apart. The present study determined the levels and associated risk of As, Cd, Cr, Hg, and Pb in sediments collected from four different sites along the Mara River that empties into Lake Victoria in Tanzania.

The impact of different sprayable surfaces on the effectiveness of indoor residual spraying using a micro encapsulated formulation of lambda-cyhalothrin against Anopheles gambiae s.s.

Background: The type of sprayable surface impacts on residual efficacy of insecticide used in indoor residual spraying (IRS). However, there is limited data on common types of wall surfaces sprayed in Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania where IRS began in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The study investigated residual efficacy of micro-encapsulated lambda-cyhalothrin sprayed on common surfaces of human dwellings and domestic animal shelters in Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania.

Health facility-based data on women receiving sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine during pregnancy in Tanzania: lessons to learn from a cross-sectional survey in Mkuranga and Mufindi districts and other national survey reports.

Background: A study of health facility (HF) data on women receiving sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy (IPTp) was carried out at antenatal care clinics in Mkuranga and Mufindi districts.

Methods: A review of health management information system (HMIS) registers, interviews with health-care workers (HWs) and district and national level malaria control program managers corroborated by inter-temporal assessment through observations at HF levels. Statistical data were analyzed in Excel and interpreted in triangulation with qualitative data from interviews and observations.

Ecologists can enable communities to implement malaria vector control in Africa.

Background: Integrated vector management (IVM) for malaria control requires ecological skills that are very scarce and rarely applied in Africa today. Partnerships between communities and academic ecologists can address this capacity deficit, modernize the evidence base for such approaches and enable future scale up.

Methods: Community-based IVM programmes were initiated in two contrasting settings.

Enhancing the application of effective malaria interventions in Africa through training.

Africa bears more than 90% of the entire global malaria disease burden. Surprisingly, even with the current renewed interest in malaria prevention and control and the enabling environment resulting from the Roll Back Malaria initiative and the political commitment made by the African Presidents at the Abuja Summit, there are still no significant initiatives for strengthening capacity for malaria control through training within the African continent itself. The Center for Enhancement of Effective Malaria Interventions (CEEMI) has been established in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for results-oriented training.