Targeting mosquito breeding sites could help control Malaria, new report says

A new report says targeting mosquito breeding sites is likely to be 'increasingly necessary' to reduce cases of malaria in Africa and Asia. More than 600,000 people died from malaria in 2010, most of them children. Researchers say that, as mosquitoes are becoming more resistant to insecticides, new methods will be needed to help control the disease. A new report by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine says authorities should use a method called "larval source management", which is where mosquito larvae found in stagnant water like paddy fields or ditches are killed off by draining or flushing the land before they get a chance to develop. However, the reports author - Lucy Trusting - admits that there are some limitations to the method. She is quoted by the BBC as saying: "It requires in some situations a very intensive effort so in some settings it won't be cost effective", but added: "In other cases you might have a small village with a pond in the middle of it. By removing that you can reduce the number of mosquitoes with very little effort". The World Health Organization says the research is still not robust enough to support this method, and it is not recommended for use in rural areas where breeding areas are hard to find.