A new report says targeting mosquito breeding sites is likely to be increasingly necessary to reduce cases of malaria in Africa and Asia.
Researchers say mosquitoes are becoming more resistant to insecticides and new approaches, such as flushing out areas of stagnant water where mosquito larvae grow and treating water with chemicals, are needed to help control the disease.
More than 600,000 people died from the malaria in 2010, most African children, the BBC reports.
The number of deaths from malaria has fallen by a quarter in the last decade, largely thanks to the widespread distribution of mosquito nets treated with insecticides and the use of indoor insecticides sprays
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But the insects are becoming increasingly resistant to these chemicals, say researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
They found evidence that flushing water, or treating it with insecticides, may significantly reduce both the number of cases of malaria- by up to 75% - and the proportion of people infected with the malaria parasite - by up to 90% - used appropriately.
The report's authors trawled through thousands of studies looking at the effectiveness of this method and found 13 which reached a high enough standard to draw their conclusions, says the BBC. The research came from countries including The Gambia, Kenya, Mali and the Philippines.
