Integrating mobility, travel survey, and malaria case data to understand drivers of malaria importation to Zanzibar, 2022-2023

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Zanzibar has achieved historic reductions in malaria incidence, but high connectivity to mainland Tanzania and imported cases continue to pose a challenge to "last mile" malaria elimination.

METHODS: To understand factors driving malaria importation, we collected travel histories and demographics of malaria cases presenting to 94 health facilities across Zanzibar's main island, Unguja, from 2022-2023. We also used two other sources of mobility data-self-reported travel at the outbound Dar es Salaam ferry terminal and Meta Data for Good colocation and movement distribution-to examine movement patterns between Unguja and mainland Tanzania. We integrated these with CHIRPS rainfall data to explore the seasonality of human movement and travel-associated malaria risk.

RESULTS: Among 1,155 malaria cases with recent travel to mainland Tanzania, travel to Tanga (21%), Dar es Salaam (20%), and Morogoro (15%) were most common. Nearly half of travelers had spent over 14 nights away from home; the majority were visiting family. While mainlanders made up two-thirds of ferry travelers, 28% of Unguja malaria cases reported primary residence on the mainland; these were young adult males working in farming as well as children under age 5. Long-distance travel off the island decreased during the rainy seasons, while rainfall in mainland destinations correlated with imported malaria cases. With different biases, colocation and ferry data reflected the proportion of cases imported from different malaria risk regions on the mainland.

DISCUSSION: Movement flows and seasonal rainfall patterns drive imported malaria in predictable ways that can be harnessed to target high-risk travelers for intervention.