%0 Journal Article
%T Larval source management for malaria control in Africa: myths and reality
%A Ulrike Fillinger
%A Steven W Lindsay
%J Malaria Journal
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1475-2875-10-353
%X The United Nation's Roll Back Malaria decade 2000-2010 has seen an unprecedented increase in the coverage of malaria control interventions. It is a critical time in the history of malaria control in Africa since, for the first time in a generation malaria is declining, at least in some countries [1]. The present global malaria control strategy aims at protecting individuals and communities using long-lasting impregnated nets (LLINs), indoor-residual spraying (IRS) and the prompt and effective treatment of clinical malaria [2]. In order to maintain this momentum and aim for further reductions in malaria transmission, supplementary tools for vector control need to be added to the current arsenal [3]. Since LLINs and IRS are directed against the adult vector population that enters houses, further suppression of transmission could be achieved by targeting the aquatic stages by reducing vector larval habitats, thus attacking both outdoor and indoor biting vectors. This may be particularly important in areas targeted for elimination where malaria foci or 'hot spots' persist [4-9]. At the same time as the global malaria community is considering how to eliminate malaria, the World Health Organization (WHO) is actively promoting Integrated Vector Management (IVM), where multiple interventions are combined to control vector-borne diseases [3,10-15]. Nevertheless, larval source management (LSM, Figure 1), although one of the oldest tools in the fight against malaria remains a largely forgotten and often dismissed intervention for malaria control in Africa [16,17]. Despite the lack of its application in Africa for over half a century, LSM has been the main focus of mosquito control programmes for decades in the United States of America (US), Canada, throughout Europe, Brazil and Singapore [18-20]. In the US larval control has been used for over a century [21]. Today there are 734 named mosquito abatement districts in the US, all employing LSM, which is the 'primary and preferre
%U http://www.malariajournal.com/content/10/1/353