Urban Poverty & Climate Change in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania:

Figure 20: Illnesses and diseases suffered by residents in households within 2 two weeks prior to
the survey implemented in October 2010 (n=543)
Malaria
Source: University of Dar es Salaam, Case Study Team (2010)
Global malaria mapping ranks Tanzania a very high malaria endemicity area (as defined
by WHO) with 10 percent of its urban and rural population at risk, the most vulnerable
groups being pregnant women and children under 5 years of age (WMO, 2010).
According to health services professionals, malaria is Dar es Salaam’s foremost health
problem for both adults and children (Tanner et al., 1991). Despite marked seasonality in
mosquito densities, which usually peak with the rain season, malaria transmission is
intense and recurrent, which could be explained by the fact that malaria-transmitting
mosquitoes are reported to be rampant throughout the year in Dar es Salaam, due to
frequent accumulation of water in residential environments. Figure 21 shows an urban
malaria risk map for Dar es Salaam based on studies conducted by de Castro et al. (2004).
The mosquitoes Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funestus are the main vectors, with an
estimated 200–300 infective bites per person per year, mostly in waterlogged urban and
rural areas of Tanzania (Smith et al., 1993). Life-threatening malaria is reported to occur
largely in children, commonly those under a year old (Schellenberg et al., 1999).
According to a study conducted by De Castro et al. (2004), 2-10 percent of school
children living in urban Dar es Salaam are infected with malaria. Anemia, largely caused
by malaria (Menendez et al., 2000), is also common in adults and children.
The Government’s efforts to control malaria are discussed later in this Section.
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