Study site

The study was conducted in two typical Solomon Island coastal villages (Haleta and Tuguivili; Fig. 6). Haleta village (population 366 people) is located on Ngella Sule Island in Central Province (9°5′56″ S, 160°6′56″ E). Central Province had an Annual Parasite Incidence (API) of 280 cases per 1,000 persons during 2015³¹. The average human biting rate of An. farauti was 15 bites per person per night (b/p/n) during 2011–2014²¹ Tuguivili village (population 167 people) is on New Georgia Island in Western Province (8°11′49″ S, 157°12′54″ E). Western Province had an API of 30 cases per 1,000 persons during 2015³¹. The human biting rate of An. farauti was 3 b/p/n during 2015–2017¹³. The mean daily coastal temperature for the Solomon Islands ranges between 24 °C and 30 °C with a mean of 27 °C and rainfall between 3000–5000 mm³². Anopheles farauti is the dominant malaria vector in the study villages (and the Solomon Islands as documented in previous studies³³).

Map of (a) the Solomon Islands showing (b) location of Haleta village on Nggela Sule Island in Central Province (9°5′56″S, 160°6′56″E) on the right and detailed map of the positions of all households and study housholds on the left and (c) location of Tuguivili village on New Georgia Island in Western Province (8°11′49″S, 157°12′54″ E) on the left with the locations of the all households and study households on the right.

Greater than 80% of the Solomon Island population lives in rural villages. The villages are generally small, averaging 68 residents in 12.4 households. The economy is largely non-monetary with 96% of households practicing subsistence farming with 60% also fishing²². Annual household income in 2013 from selling crops, handicrafts and fish was USD 968 (SBD8011)³⁴. More than 98% of Solomon Island residents are Christians and more than 95% are Melanesian²². Houses in the Solomon Islands are predominantly constructed on stilts with timber frames and timber or leaf-thatched walls, and with roofs of iron sheet or leaf-thatch. Five percent of rural households have electricity and fewer than 1% have television³⁵. The houses have large open eaves and are homogenous in size with 2–3 bedrooms.