THE MATOLA MALARIA PROJECT - A TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL STUDY OF MALARIA TRANSMISSION AND DISEASE IN A SUBURBAN AREA OF MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE

A temporal and spatial study of malaria transmission in a suburban are a of Maputo, Mozambique with a mean population density of 2,737/km(2) was made from December 1992 to June 1995. A steep but continuous gradi ent was observed in the Plasmodium falciparum prevalence from 59.0% ad jacent to the breeding sites to 5.4% only a few hundred meters distant . The entomologic inoculation rate ranged from a number too low to be determined in some districts to 20 infectious bites per person per yea r in the others. The risk of malaria was 6.2 times higher for individu als living less than 200 meters from the breeding sites than for indiv iduals living 500 meters or more away from the breeding sites. In area s of high human density, mosquito and parasite dispersion is very limi ted, and therefore malaria control strategies could be more specifical ly targeted.