Using the information value method in a geographic information system and remote sensing for malaria mapping: a case study from India.

Inform Prim Care

National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganism (ICAR), Mau, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Published: November 2014

Background: This paper explores the scope of malaria-susceptibility modelling to predict malaria occurrence in an area.

Objective: An attempt has been made in Varanasi district, India, to evaluate the status of malaria disease and to develop a model by which malaria-prone zones could be predicted using five classes of relative malaria susceptibility, i.e.very low, low, moderate, high and very high categories. The information value (Info Val) method was used to assess malaria occurrence and various time-were used as the independent variables. A geographical information system (GIS) is employed to investigate associations between such variables and distribution of different mosquitoes responsible for malaria transmission. Accurate prediction of risk depends on a number of variables, such as land use, NDVI, climatic factors, population, distance to health centres, ponds, streams and roads etc., all of which have an influence on malaria transmission or reporting. Climatic factors, particularly rainfall, temperature and relative humidity, are known to have a major influence on the biology of mosquitoes. To produce a malaria-susceptibility map using this method, weightings are calculated for various classes in each group. The groups are then superimposed to prepare a Malaria Susceptibility Index (MSI) map.

Results: We found that 3.87% of the malaria cases were found in areas with a low malaria-susceptibility level predicted from the model, whereas 39.86% and 26.29% of malaria cases were found in predicted high and very high susceptibility level areas, respectively.

Conclusions: Malaria susceptibility modelled using a GIS may have a role in predicting the risks of malaria and enable public health interventions to be better targeted.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.14236/jhi.v21i1.38DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

malaria
12
malaria susceptibility
12
malaria occurrence
8
high high
8
malaria transmission
8
climatic factors
8
malaria cases
8
method geographic
4
geographic system
4
system remote
4

Similar Publications

Purpose: Malaria remains a major global health challenge, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), contributing substantially to mortality and morbidity rates. In resource-limited settings, access to specialized diagnostic tests is often restricted, making basic blood analysis a valuable diagnostic tool. This study investigated the correlation between malaria infection and full blood count values in a rural region of Ghana during the 2022 rainy season, aiming to highlight diagnostic insights available from routine blood analyses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Making malaria control a priority: a lesson for today's malaria community.

Malariaworld J

January 2025

BC Business Centrum, Elscot House, Arcadia Avenue, London N3 2JU, United Kingdom.

For malaria control to be successful, experience has shown that success is more likely where all involved feel the attempt must not be allowed to fail, and that success can be the only acceptable outcome. Importantly, all those at the top must have such commitment, and, in particular, this should also include the funder, the source of finance of the attempt. That would be malaria control treated as a priority.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Malaria is a major public health problem in the Central African Republic (CAR). Data on malaria epidemiology are often derived from confirmed cases of symptomatic malaria using passive detection approaches, with very limited knowledge of the extent of subclinical and submicroscopic infections.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Bangui, the capital of the CAR, to assess the prevalence of subclinical malaria parasitaemia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Spatial, temporal, and spatiotemporal cluster detection of malaria incidence in Southwest Ethiopia.

Front Public Health

January 2025

Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.

Background: Malaria is a major global health hazard, particularly in developing countries such as Ethiopia, where it contributes to high morbidity and mortality rates. According to reports from the South Omo Zone Health Bureau, despite various interventions such as insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying, the incidence of malaria has increased in recent years. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the spatial, temporal, and spatiotemporal variation in malaria incidence in the South Omo Zone, Southwest Ethiopia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The limited efficacy of the two recently approved malaria vaccines, RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix- M™, highlights the need for alternative vaccine candidate genes. Plasmodium falciparum Reticulocyte Binding Protein Homologue 5 (Pfrh5) is a promising malaria vaccine candidate, given its limited polymorphism, its essential role in parasite survival, a lack of immune selection pressure and higher efficacy against multiple parasites strains. This study evaluated the genetic diversity of Pfrh5 gene among parasites from regions with varying malaria transmission intensities in Mainland Tanzania, to generate baseline data for this potential malaria vaccine candidate.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!