![]() Roofs protect the main structure of the house and in harsh environments, like that experienced by much of the region, are exposed to high levels of solar radiation, temperature, rain and wind. Typically, houses in sub-Saharan Africa have a roof built from a single layer of thin steel corrugate sheeting, coated with zinc for increased durability and protection against corrosion. Thus whilst, high indoor temperatures experienced in metal-roofed houses during the day increases the mortality of malaria mosquitoes resting indoors, thereby reducing transmission, they also increase the risk that people at night will not sleep under a net due the remaining heat emitted mainly by walls. Studies in the hot, humid tropics have shown that metal-roofed houses are hotter during the day than those that have thatched roofs and they remain appreciably hotter well into the night. One of the most obvious and rapid transformations in housing seen in sub-Saharan Africa is that metal roofs are replacing traditional thatched roofs (Additional File 1: Figure S1). Simple solutions for cooling down houses at night are thus required to increase net usage and reduce malaria prevalence. In many countries, however, especially when it is hot and humid, nets are considered too hot to sleep under. Correct use of ITNs can be a highly effective intervention. ![]() Currently, one of the principal tools for malaria control are insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs), which provide protection against malaria vectors feeding indoors at night. Many of these new homes will be built in malaria-endemic areas and will require novel methods of disease control. ![]() This rise in population will be accompanied by a huge demand for new and improved housing. At the same time, the region is experiencing an unprecedented increase in population and it is estimated that by 2050, there will be an extra one billion people living in the region, mainly in informal settlements. The cost of painting a metal roof white is approximately 31–68 USD.īetween 20, the percentage of improved houses, classified as those with improved water and sanitation, sufficient living area and constructed from durable materials, increased from 8.2 to 18.4% in rural sub-Saharan Africa and from 32.3 to 53.2% in urban areas. Human comfort analysis showed that from 21.00 to 23.59 h houses with white roofs (comfortable for 87% time) were more comfortable than bare-metal roofed houses (comfortable for 13% time odds ratio = 43.7, 95% CI 27.5–69.5, p < 0.001). ![]() Maximum daily temperatures were 0.93 ☌ lower in a white-roofed house (95% CI 0.10–0.30, p < 0.001), but not a red roof (mean maximum temperature difference = 0.44 ☌ warmer, 95% CI 0.43–0.45, p = 0.081), compared with the bare-metal roofed houses. Similar results were found from 00.00 to 06.00 h. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.įrom 21.00 to 23.59 h, when most residents decide whether to use an ITN or not, the indoor temperature of a house with a bare metal roof was 31.5 ☌ (95% CI 31.2–31.8 ☌), a red roof, 30.3 ☌ (95% CI 30.0–30.6) and a white roof, 29.8 ☌ (95% CI 29.4–30.1). If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
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