page_title: Malaria
section_title: Control mosquitoes
hierarchical_section_title: Malaria / How to prevent malaria / Control mosquitoes
caption_attribution_description: &quot;Cash for work&quot; projects in Mukuru Photo: Linda Ogwell/Oxfam. Find out more at: &lt;a href="http://oxf.am/oUP" rel="nofollow"&gt;oxf.am/oUP&lt;/a&gt;
context_page_description: Malaria is produced by 4 species of the protozoal parasite Plasmodium, is endemic in many tropical countries. It is one of the most common health problems. As per latest WHO estimates * between 149–274 million clinical cases and ~ 0.655 million deaths occur globally due to malaria each year, 90% of which are in Africa.
  This amounts to one malaria death every minute. In India the National Malaria Eradication Programme, started in 1958, achieved near complete disappearance of the disease in 1960s.
  Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a parasite: it is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. People catch malaria when the parasite enters the blood. The parasite causes a deadly infection which kills many people each year.
  . However, due to the development of insecticide resistance among mosquitoes and other factors, it staged a comeback in the mid 1970s, and continues to prevail in endemic/subendemic proportions, so that 80% indian population lives in malaria risk areas.
  The parasite that causes malaria is a protozoan called 'Plasmodium'. Protozoa are organisms with only one cell, but they are not bacteria. Bacteria are smaller and simpler than protozoans.
context_section_description: Vector control is one way to stop malaria. Vector means an organism that carries an infectious disease to another organism. For malaria, the vector is the Anopheles mosquito.
  The most used method of vector control is pesticides. These are chemicals that kill the mosquito. The first pesticide used for vector control was DDT. DDT worked very well for vector control. It killed mosquitoes. It did not make people very sick at the time it was used. It did not cost very much money. Other chemicals for vector control had not been invented yet.
  In many places mosquitoes became resistant to DDT. This meant that DDT did not work anymore in these areas. Scientists worried that DDT was making people and animals sick. It killed a lot of wildlife too. DDT also stays in the environment for a long time. For these reasons, people mostly use other chemicals for vector control. Organophosphate or carbonate pesticides are used, like malathion or bendiocarb.
  Vector control is not the only way to stop malaria. And DDT is not the only chemical that can be used for vector control. The best way to stop malaria is to use a combination of methods. In some places, DDT may be a useful part of a program to stop malaria. This is why DDT is still allowed to be used for controlling malaria.
caption: Clearing drainage ditches in Kenya
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