Researchers have said that people who live near large dams are four times more likely to contact Malaria.
The study published in Malaria Journal estimated that 1 million people will contact Malaria this year because they live near dams.
Co-author of the study, Matthew McCartney of the International Water Management Institute said “We found that dams do have an impact on malaria because of the fact that they provide breeding habitat for mosquitoes and Anopheles mosquitoes, which are the ones that carry malaria and are the hosts for malaria in people.
“The reservoir shorelines provide breeding habitat, and that therefore increases the number of mosquitoes around many, many reservoirs. ”
The study claims that the heightened malaria risk fell within five kilometers of a dam’s perimeter.
McCartney added that “We would argue that dam managers and planners and water resource development, in general, need to consider the fact that the infrastructure that they build has these impacts on malaria.”
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