Rice intensification: could climate change interventions help African malaria elimination?

This project will address all three themes of this call by exploring a technology that could generate substantial health co-benefits from actions to address climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture, generating a new tool and inter-sectoral resources to support research on climate change and health. In Africa, rice is a rapidly intensifying agricultural crop, driven by a dramatic growth in consumer demand. As a preferred breeding site for mosquito vectors of malaria, its continent-wide intensification is likely to slow progress towards malaria control and elimination. As a major agricultural user of water and generator of methane, its intensification poses a challenge to African climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. Public health and agricultural research have separately developed novel water management methods to address vector production and climate change effects, respectively. These are similar, but have never been compared.

Project details

Climate Change
Response Strategies

Jul 2019 — Aug 2022

$638,135

United Kingdom