Journalist Leslie Roberts and a photographer travel around Mozambique to explore why malaria persists despite the best efforts to defeat it. Mozambique has one of the highest malaria burdens in the world. The disease is the second-biggest killer there, and its victims are mainly children under 5.
Recently, Mozambique has seen an infusion of money and effort to fight this mosquito-borne disease, but instead of falling, malaria cases are rising in some places.
To figure out why, entomologists are studying how mosquitoes are changing their behavior to elude proven tools like bed nets. Researchers are developing badly needed new tools. Epidemiologists and sociologists are probing why people don't avail themselves of the medicines and tools that do exist. Community health workers and religious leaders are working with remote populations to explain how to prevent malaria. And the government is piloting innovative strategies to turn around this alarming trend. Many lives depend on their success.
