{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T14:31:30Z","timestamp":1791469890209,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,2]],"date-time":"2025-07-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1751414400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has a disproportionately high malaria fatality rate globally, with young children accounting for the majority of fatalities. The objective of this study is to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of malaria infection risk and assess the effect of vector control interventions on malaria infection rates in SSA nations.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>We utilized data from the Malaria Atlas Project regarding the prevalence of <jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum<\/jats:italic> malaria infections and vector control interventions across 634 administrative areas in 45 SSA countries over a decade. This study adopted spatiotemporal regression models using Markov-chain Monte Carlo methods with a Bayesian setup.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Between 2011 and 2020, the average annual prevalence rates of malaria infection among children aged 2 to 10 in SSA diminished from 21.32% in 2011 to 16.75% in 2016, with a slight resurgence observed in 2017. Each unit increase in the number of individuals utilizing insecticide-treated nets (ITN) annually correlates with a 34.07% reduction in the risk of malaria infection. A rise in malaria cases has prompted SSA to undertake serious control measures. The auto-regressive process reveals a highly significant temporal correlation, while the global spatial dependency parameter indicates a modest spatial correlation. The highest risk of malaria infection prevalence among children aged 2 to 10 was indicated in states in the West-central, Central, and certain Eastern regions.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Given that the West-central, Central, and select Eastern states exhibit the highest rates of malaria infection, the global end malaria councils and the malaria control and elimination program should prioritize interventions in these regions, enhancing vector control measures and providing comprehensive training on their effective utilization to mitigate malaria risk in these areas.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1531771","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,2]],"date-time":"2025-07-02T05:54:03Z","timestamp":1751435643000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Effects of vector control interventions on spatio-temporal changes of falciparum malaria risk in children aged 2\u201310 in sub-Saharan African regions during 2011\u20132020"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Changkuoth Jock","family":"Chol","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Denekew Bitew","family":"Belay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haile Mekonnen","family":"Fenta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ding-Geng","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"243","DOI":"10.1016\/j.idc.2012.03.010","article-title":"Malaria","volume":"26","author":"Nadjm","year":"2012","journal-title":"Infect Dis Clin N Am"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1608","DOI":"10.1016\/s0140-6736(18)30324-6","article-title":"Malaria","volume":"391","author":"Ashley","year":"2018","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"499","DOI":"10.1007\/s11910-022-01214-6","article-title":"Neurological complications of malaria","volume":"22","author":"Trivedi","year":"2022","journal-title":"Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"492","DOI":"10.1378\/chest.11-2655","article-title":"Respiratory manifestations of malaria","volume":"142","author":"Taylor","year":"2012","journal-title":"Chest"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0199415","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0199415","article-title":"Malaria during pregnancy and newborn outcome in an unstable transmission area in Brazil: a population-based record linkage study","volume":"13","author":"Dombrowski","year":"2018","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"ref6","article-title":"CDC - parasites - malaria CDC","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref7","article-title":"Prevalence of malaria in sub-saharan Africa. BYU ScholarsArchive","author":"Stonely","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"413","DOI":"10.1016\/s0140-6736(12)60034-8","article-title":"Global malaria mortality between 1980 and 2010: a systematic analysis","volume":"379","author":"Murray","year":"2012","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref9","volume-title":"World malaria report 2021","year":"2021"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"457","DOI":"10.1186\/s12936-020-03541-w","article-title":"Malaria and COVID-19: unmasking their ties","volume":"19","author":"Hussein","year":"2020","journal-title":"Malar J"},{"key":"ref11","volume-title":"World malaria report 2023","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1687","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-024-19206-1","article-title":"Malaria in under-five children: prevalence and multi-factor analysis of high-risk African countries","volume":"24","author":"Mbishi","year":"2024","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"162","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1478-0542.2010.00757.x","article-title":"Malaria in Africa","volume":"9","author":"Webb","year":"2011","journal-title":"Hist Compass"},{"key":"ref14","article-title":"Impact. PMI","year":"2022"},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"356","DOI":"10.1186\/s12936-021-03890-0","article-title":"Artemisinin-based combination therapy for uncomplicated plasmodium falciparum malaria in Mali: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"20","author":"Maiga","year":"2021","journal-title":"Malar J"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"260","DOI":"10.1186\/s12936-020-03321-6","article-title":"The fabric of life: what if mosquito nets were durable and widely available but insecticide-free?","volume":"19","author":"Okumu","year":"2020","journal-title":"Malar J"},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"CD01300","DOI":"10.1002\/14651858.cd013300.pub2","article-title":"Indoor residual spraying for preventing malaria","volume":"15","author":"Choi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Cochrane Database Syst Rev"},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1186\/s41182-023-00516-w","article-title":"Malaria vaccines: the 60-year journey of hope and final success\u2014lessons learned and future prospects","volume":"51","author":"El-Moamly","year":"2023","journal-title":"Trop Med Health"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e601","DOI":"10.1016\/s2214-109x(14)70300-6","article-title":"Effects of vector-control interventions on changes in risk of malaria parasitaemia in sub-Saharan Africa: a spatial and temporal analysis","volume":"2","author":"Giardina","year":"2014","journal-title":"Lancet Glob Health"},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"450","DOI":"10.1186\/s13071-017-2393-0","article-title":"The contribution of malaria control interventions on spatio-temporal changes of parasitaemia risk in Uganda during 2009\u20132014","volume":"10","author":"Ssempiira","year":"2017","journal-title":"Parasit Vectors"},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"103","DOI":"10.1186\/s40249-018-0487-3","article-title":"Malaria epidemiology and interventions in Ethiopia from 2001 to 2016","volume":"7","author":"Taffese","year":"2018","journal-title":"Infect Dis Poverty"},{"key":"ref22","article-title":"Malaria atlas project | home","volume-title":"MAP","year":"2024"},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sste.2014.05.001","article-title":"A spatio-temporal model for estimating the long-term effects of air pollution on respiratory hospital admissions in greater London","volume":"10","author":"Rushworth","year":"2014","journal-title":"Spatial Spatio-temporal Epidemiol"},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"141","DOI":"10.1111\/rssc.12155","article-title":"An adaptive spatiotemporal smoothing model for estimating trends and step changes in disease risk","volume":"66","author":"Rushworth","year":"2017","journal-title":"J R Stat Soc Ser C Appl Stat"},{"key":"ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-25454-8_9","article-title":"Bayesian spatio-temporal modelling to deliver more accurate and instantaneous air pollution forecasts","author":"Sahu","year":"2016"},{"key":"ref26","volume-title":"Bayesian modeling of spatio-temporal data with R","author":"Sahu","year":"2022"},{"key":"ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"179","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4612-1284-3_4","article-title":"Estimation of disease rates in small areas: a new mixed model for spatial dependence","volume":"116","author":"Leroux","year":"2000"},{"key":"ref28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2555","DOI":"10.1002\/1097-0258(20000915\/30)19:17\/18%3C2555::aid-sim587%3E3.0.co;2-%23","article-title":"Bayesian modelling of inseparable space-time variation in disease risk","volume":"19","author":"Knorr-Held","year":"2000","journal-title":"Stat Med"},{"key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"583","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-9868.00353","article-title":"Bayesian measures of model complexity and fit","volume":"64","author":"Spiegelhalter","year":"2002","journal-title":"J R Stat Soc Series B Stat Methodol"},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3571","DOI":"10.48550\/arxiv.1004.2316","article-title":"Asymptotic equivalence of Bayes cross validation and widely applicable information criterion in singular learning theory","author":"Watanabe","year":"2010","journal-title":"arXiv (Cornell University)"},{"key":"ref31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1093\/biomet\/37.1-2.17","article-title":"Notes on continuous stochastic phenomena","volume":"37","author":"Moran","year":"1950","journal-title":"Biometrika"},{"key":"ref32","article-title":"What we do","author":"Avrakotos","year":"2024"},{"key":"ref33","article-title":"Insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs)","author":"Avrakotos","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"141","DOI":"10.3390\/tropicalmed5030141","article-title":"Malaria and COVID-19: common and different findings","volume":"5","author":"Di Gennaro","year":"2020","journal-title":"Trop Med Infec Dis"},{"key":"ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.3390\/tropicalmed8010067","article-title":"Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria control in Africa: a preliminary analysis","volume":"8","author":"Gao","year":"2023","journal-title":"Trop Med Infec Dis"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Public Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1531771\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,2]],"date-time":"2025-07-02T05:54:05Z","timestamp":1751435645000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1531771\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,2]]},"references-count":35,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1531771"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1531771","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-2565"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-2565","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,2]]},"article-number":"1531771"}}