Researchers are creating a global malaria map to tackle the killer disease by pinpointing the areas where it strikes most often. The map, the first in 40 years, is designed to spot mosquitoes carrying the malaria parasite and determine where they are likely to infect people so that the best control and treatment strategies can be implemented.
So far scientists from Britain and Kenya, who are working on the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP), have gathered information on 3,126 communities in 79 out of the 107 countries where malaria is endemic. With the information, researchers in the individual countries will be able to work out how many on an average get the disease each year, what drugs will be needed and the amount of bed nets necessary to prevent infections.
