The history of malaria control in the southwest Pacific region, with particular reference to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

A number of phases in the history of malaria control in the Southwest Pacific Region can be recognized. During the first phase (1898-1923) it was known that anopheline mosquitoes carried malaria, but as yet the identity of the local vectors had not been established. The incrimination of the vectors in 1923 gave a sound basis for control, which remained largely urban in location except for the distribution of the larvivorous fish Gambusia affinis. The exigencies of the Pacific War and the presence of large numbers of combat troops in malarious areas resulted in the establishment of Mobile Entomological Sections and Malaria Control Units, and the collection and collation of large amounts of entomological, epidemiological and parasitological information. Larval control measures, carried out with very large labour lines and with military precision, were effective. The availability of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in 1943 made attack on adult vector mosquitoes also possible; DDT was applied widely in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands by spraying and misting with adulticidal devices in tents and buildings, and by release from aircraft. Atebrin and dimethylphthalate also became available in quantity, for the suppression and treatment of malaria and for personal protection against mosquitoes, respectively. The wartime successes gave hope for peacetime anti-malaria activities carried out within village communities, which to this stage had not been seriously attempted. By three years after the end of the war the World Health Organization, the South Pacific Commission, and local administrative structures had been set up. Extensive investigations into the nature and severity of malaria endemicity were undertaken and recorded. Initially malaria control remained localized and largely urban, and was carried out by conventional antilarval measures, but at the same time new anti-malaria compounds became available for prophylaxis and treatment. Uncertainty still remained as to the usefulness of indoor spraying with DDT against anophelines of the punctulatus group. By 1953 the results of detailed studies in test huts set up for the purpose were known to been couraging, and the decision was made in 1954 to begin in Netherlands New Guinea (West Irian) a pilot project of routine residual spraying with DDT in village houses.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)