294 
MALARIA 
eline reduction. These are desirable im¬ 
provements, but they should not be done 
under the aegis of malaria control if no 
malaria problem is involved. Many public 
officials are entirely willing to spend public 
funds in dusting ponds on private prop¬ 
erty, but are not willing to participate in 
the costs of mosquito-proofing private 
homes. In spite of the obvious economy of 
complete drainage development of one sec¬ 
tion of a county at a time, the people at 
risk of malaria in other sections may de¬ 
mand a more equitable distribution of these 
operations or perhaps treatment at public 
expense while the dragline remains on the 
other side of the county. Finally, certain 
procedures, such as screening and medica¬ 
tion, that are dependent upon individual 
cooperation and responsibility may not suc¬ 
ceed in particular localities without either 
disciplinary control of the population or a 
special program of education and inspec¬ 
tion. These factors must all be considered 
in the integration of desirable malaria-con¬ 
trol practice with local resources and cir¬ 
cumstances. 
Fifth Consideration: Evaluation of 
Malaria Control 
Measurable malaria attributes fluctuate 
not only with the season of the year but 
from one year to the next (Fig. 1). In 
many instances there is manifested a cer¬ 
tain regularity in their trends which sug¬ 
gests some inherent cyclicity or periodicity, 
the reasons for which are obscure. Malaria- 
control operations started during the de¬ 
scent of these attributes are naturally 
predestined to success. It is, accordingly, 
very easy to deceive oneself about the suc¬ 
cess of malaria-control efforts. Probably 
the most objective method of avoiding such 
pitfalls is to maintain under careful obser¬ 
vation one or more malarious areas where 
no preventive measures are being carried 
on. Reconnaissance methods, as well as 
vital statistics analysis, may be applied 
year after year to note the natural move¬ 
ments of malaria prevalence in these com- 
parsion areas and to gauge departures 
from them in places where control programs 
are in effect. 
In the final analysis the best indications 
of success in malaria control are favorable 
expressions on the part of low-income fami¬ 
lies living in previously malarious sections 
and of tax-paying land-owners who can 
compare their individual expenditures for 
malaria treatment before control with their 
tax bills and land values after control. 
