A Mathematical Model for the Transmission and Spread of Drug Sensitive and Resistant Malaria Strains within a Human Population

Malaria remains by far the world's most important tropical disease, killing more people than any other communicable disease. A number of preventive and control measures have been put in place and most importantly drug treatment. The emergence of drug resistance against the most common and affordable antimalarials is widespread and poses a key obstacle to malaria control. A mathematical model that incorporates evolution of drug resistance and treatment as a preventive strategy is formulated and analyzed. The qualitative analysis of the model is given in terms of the effective reproduction number, R e . The existence and stability of the disease-free and endemic equilibria of the model are studied. We establish the threshold parameters below which the burden due to malaria can be brought under control. Numerical simulations are done to determine the role played by key parameters in the model. The public health implications of the results are twofold; firstly every effort should be taken to minimize the evolution of drug resistance due to treatment failure and secondly high levels of treatment and development of immunity are essential in reducing the malaria burden.