Free Disease Knowledges

Malaria vector management: Where have we come from and where are we headed?

April 12, 2008 – 3:33 am

Considering the global prevalence of malaria and the ease with which it has evaded the global control and eradication efforts, we can arguably say it is one of the successful human diseases. In our opinion, it seems the fight against the increasing burden of malaria will require adoption of multiple approaches that have proven effective now or in the past. The results of larval control earlier in the last century were spectacular but were not good enough to rid the world of malaria - so were the DDT during World War II and ITNs currently. In view of proven effectiveness of each of these vector control approaches, it would be interesting to see how they would impact malaria burden if they were applied in an integrated fashion relying on field-derived evidence-based information about the vector, parasite, and human host: the so-called integrated vector management (IVM) philosophy. This concept involves combining several vector control tactics, which if applied separately or not used at the right time or place would not achieve the desired results, but together with the correct information are mutually complementary. An IVM program involving source reduction, IRS (especially with DDT), and ITNs is now practical after the recent approval by the World Health Organization of DDT use in malaria control where the vectors are still susceptible to this chemical and the renewed interest in larval control. It is worth noting that challenges such as civil unrest, tribal wars, and lack of political goodwill need to be addressed, because effective malaria control is only possible under a stable civil setting. (excerpt)

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