Title: Water development projects
Course: Communicable Diseases Part 1 - Ethiopia (Full)

Water development projects

Big and small water-related development projects, such as irrigation channels, dams and ponds, can increase the incidence of malaria in villages that are located near such projects.

How can water development projects affect malaria transmission?

Show answer

They create more vector breeding habitats; more vectors mean more malaria transmission.

You will learn about environmental management to reduce the breeding sites for mosquitoes in Study Session 9 of this Module.

Agricultural development, particularly with the use of irrigation, creates breeding sites for malaria mosquitoes, leading to increased malaria transmission. For instance, the use of irrigation to flood agricultural land during rice cultivation has long been associated with an increase in the number of vectors and a corresponding increase in the burden of malaria. Irrigated farming and rice agriculture is becoming more common in the lowlands of Ethiopia.