Urban malaria in West Africa

Project Description / Background

Malaria is in general considered a rural disease as the Anopheles mosquitoes, that transmit malaria, are known to prefer relatively clean water for breeding. Such habitats are usually lacking in the more polluted city environments. However, urban cities are quickly expanding, especially in West Africa, where today in the humid forest zone, more people live in cities than in rural areas and in 20 years’ time two out of three West Africans is projected to live in urban centers. For the growing city population urban agriculture (UA) is often been promoted as a means to increase food security and at the same time improve nutrition and alleviate poverty. However, there is a concern that irrigated urban agriculture could increase the malaria risk in urban areas, by creating ‘rural spots’ where malaria mosquitoes can breed. With rapidly expanding urban areas, there is an urgent need to establish the possible risks to human health of urban agriculture in terms of increased malaria transmission and to develop, if necessary, appropriate measures to reduce this risk. Therefore IWMI and collaborators launched a project under the System Wide Initiative on Malaria and Agriculture (SIMA) to investigate the impact of UA on malaria transmission in West Africa. A pilot project in the city of Kumasi, Ghana showed higher Anopheles biting rates in night catches and significant more reported malaria cases in urban areas with agriculture compared to urban areas without agriculture (Afrane et al., 2004).

Together with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine an epidemiological and sociological baseline study was conducted in areas close to and more distant from urban agriculture sites in the cities of Accra and Kumasi, Ghana for which data analysis is still ongoing. Entomological studies are ongoing for the cities of Accra and Kumasi in Ghana. In addition larval ecological studies are ongoing to investigate the suitability of urban agriculture related water sources for the breeding of Anopheles mosquitoes.

Goal 

To investigate to what extent urban agriculture increases the risk of malaria in West African cities and to develop recommendations to minimize any potential risk.

Specific Objectives

• Quantify to what extent urban agriculture contributes to malaria in the selected cities in comparison with rural farm areas and normal inner-city housing areas without irrigated urban agriculture.

• Identify those urban agriculture irrigation practices and water conditions that support malaria vector breeding.

• Develop practical recommendations towards effective (technical, regulatory) malaria prevention for urban agriculture in the different cities.

Project Duration: 2002 - 2005

Partners 

Donors

This work is receiving support from EHP, Dutch Government, Malaria Knowledge Program. The pilot study was co-funded by FAO. Donors to extend the project to other cities in West Africa are needed.