Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Rural houses in sub-Saharan Africa are typically hot and allow malaria mosquitoes inside. We assessed whether passive or active ventilation can reduce house entry of malaria mosquitoes and cool a bedroom at night in rural Gambia. Two identical experimental houses were used: one ventilated and one unventilated control.
We evaluated the impact of i passive ventilation solar chimney and ii active ventilation ceiling fan on the number of mosquitoes collected indoors and environmental parameters temperature, humidity, CO 2 , evaporation.
There were no differences in indoor nightly temperature, humidity or CO 2 between intervention and control houses in either experiment. The solar chimney did not improve human comfort assessed using psychrometric analysis.
While the ceiling fan improved human comfort pre-midnight, in the morning it was too cool compared with the control house, although this could be remedied through provision of blankets.
Further improvements to the design of the solar chimney are needed. High air velocity in the ceiling fan house probably reduced mosquito house entry by preventing mosquito flight. Improved ventilation in houses may reduce malaria transmission. In sub-Saharan Africa, most rural houses are built from mud [ 1 , 2 ] and concrete, both materials with a high thermal mass, making them hot at night [ 2 , 3 ].
