Human migration and the spread of malaria in Brazil

How human migration into this region — associated with new agricultural settlements and small mines (garimpos) — has contributed to the increase, while travellers from this region can initiate new foci of active transmission in previously controlled areas elsewhere in the country is explained.

Abstract

The Superintendencia de Companhas de Saúde Pública (SUCAM) of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, is a large and powerful organization charged with implementing control strategies against the major endemic diseases of the country. Since 1958, using a combination of chemotherapy and measures against the onopheline vectors, SUCAM has succeeded in greatly diminishing the incidence o f malaria in the area under its control. But in recent years, the Amazon region (especially the northwestern states o f Rondônio and Pará) has seen a steady increase in malaria cases. In this article, Agostinho Cruz Marques explains how human migration into this region — associated with new agricultural settlements and small mines (garimpos) — has contributed to the increase, while travellers from this region can initiate new foci of active transmission in previously controlled areas elsewhere in the country.