Historical review of malarial control in southern African with emphasis on the use of indoor residual house-spraying
Abstract
Summary: Indoor residual house‐spraying (IRS) mainly with dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) was the principal method by which malaria was eradicated or greatly reduced in many countries in the world between the 1940s and 1960s. In sub‐Saharan Africa early malarial eradication pilot projects also showed that malaria is highly responsive to vector control by IRS but transmission could not be interrupted in the endemic tropical and lowland areas. As a result IRS was not taken to scale in most endemic areas of the continent with the exception of southern Africa and some island countries such as Reunion, Mayotte, Zanzibar, Cape Verde and Sao Tome. In southern Africa large‐scale malarial control operations based on IRS with DDT and benzene hexachloride (BHC) were initiated in a number of countries to varying degrees. The objective of this review was to investigate the malarial situation before and after the introduction of indoor residual insecticide spraying in South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique using historical malarial data and related information collected from National Malaria Control Programmes, national archives and libraries, as well as academic institutions in the respective countries. Immediately after the inception of IRS with insecticides, dramatic reductions in malaria and its vectors were recorded. Countries that developed National Malaria Control Programmes during this phase and had built up human and organizational resources made significant advances towards malarial control. Malaria was reduced from hyper‐ to meso‐endemicity and from meso‐ to hypo‐endemicity and in certain instances to complete eradication. Data are presented on the effectiveness of IRS as a malarial control tool in six southern African countries. Recent trends in and challenges to malarial control in the region are also discussed.
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Statements of high cost-effectiveness of DDT have been based on the positive experience from the malaria eradication era supplemented with more recent results on reductions in malaria morbidity and incidence associated with DDT use.
“Statements of high cost-effectiveness of DDT have been based on the positive experience from the malaria eradication era (Mabaso et al. 2004) supplemented with more recent results on reductions in malaria morbidity and incidence associated with the use of DDT (Curtis 2002; Gunasekaran et al. 2005; Sharp et al. 2007).”
From Global Status of DDT and Its Alternatives for Use in Vector Control to Prevent Disease (2009) · cites this paper as Mabaso et al. 2004
Cites
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van den Berg, H. (2009) · Environmental Health Perspectives · doi:10.1289/ehp.0900785 · Cited by 376 · see citing works
“…averted by IRS using DDT. Statements of high costeffectiveness of DDT have been based on the positive experience from the malaria eradication era (Mabaso et al. 2004) supplemented with more recent results on reductions in malaria morbidity and incidence associated with the use of DDT (Curtis…”
ResultAn entomopathogenic fungus for control of adult African malaria mosquitoes
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Self-citationHow to make evolution-proof insecticides for malaria control
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“The long term and extensive use of DDT over the last few decades in Côte d’Ivoire [18] would have led to a strong selective pressure on exposed mosquito populations and could explain the high resistance to DDT observed in the study population.”
BackgroundLevels and determinants of DDT and DDE exposure in the VHEMBE cohort
Gaspar, F. W., Chevrier, J., Quirós-Alcalá, L., Lipsitt, J. M., Barr, D. B., Holland, N., Bornman, R., & Eskenazi, B. (2017) · Environmental Health Perspectives · doi:10.1289/ehp353 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Mabaso, M. L. H., Sharp, B., & Lengeler, C.
- Affiliations
- South African Medical Research Council (ZA)
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Mabaso, Musawenkosi L. H.
- Sharp, Brian
- Lengeler, Christian
- Venue
- Tropical Medicine & International Health
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2004-08
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 846-856
- ISSN
- 1360-2276 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-3156
- OpenAlex
- W1975146217
- Cited by
- 366
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 32 · 2012: 28
- FWCI
- 1.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Tropical Medicine & International Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Malaria Research and Control
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › History of Medicine and Tropical Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Mosquito-borne diseases and control
- Keywords
- indoor residual spraying, malaria control, DDT, hexachlorocyclohexane, vector control, malaria eradication, malaria endemicity, National Malaria Control Programme, Southern Africa, South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique
- MeSH terms
- Africa, Southern, Animals, DDT, Housing, Humans, Insect Vectors, Insecticides, Malaria, Mosquito Control
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