Malaria vector ecology and housing in The Gambia

Abstract

Malaria is a major health challenge in low- and middle-income countries in the Global South, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In the last 50 years the combined distribution and appropriate use of insecticide-treated nets, insecticide residual spraying and mass drug administration campaigns dramatically reduced malaria cases globally. This reduction, however, has stopped and even reversed in some places. In the last decade, this concern has led to the exploration of innovative solutions for vector control and to the return of strategies like house modification, which were popular before the widespread use of insecticides that took place after World War 2.
In this thesis, I explored how several specific house-based modificacions can reduce mosquito house entry, and possibly malaria infection rates, through a series of experiments conducted in two rural villages in The Gambia. Experiments conducted in Wellingara assessed the effect on mosquito hut entry and indoor temperature of raising an experimental hut above the ground and the effect of closing the ground floor in an elevated hut using four experimental huts. Studies in Wali Kunda explored how indoor temperature was affected by different roof colours and the effect on mosquito house entry and indoor temperature of passive and active ventilation in two experimental houses. Finally, a qualitative study assessed the routines that took place in the domestic space and how it relates to risk of malaria infection and vector control programmes.