Agricultural development, migrant labor and the resurgence of malaria in Swaziland

Much of the research on the recent resurgence of malaria in Third World areas has focused on the problem of vector resistance arising out of the widespread use of pesticides in conjunction with the development of large-scale agricultural projects. Evidence from southern Africa, and particularly from Swaziland, where a resurgence of malaria has occurred in the absence of pesticide-resistent strains of Anopheles mosquitoes, suggests that changes in agroecosystems, labor utilization and settlement patterns, which are also associated with large-scale agricultural development, may play an equally important role in the resurgence of malaria. Renewed efforts to control malaria must, therefore, take account of the social and economic, as well as the biological determinants of this disease.