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If you live in a region where malaria is common, there are a few simple things you can do to prevent your family from getting sick. The key: keeping the mosquitoes away. If infected mosquitoes can’t get to you, they can’t bite you. If they can’t bite, they can’t transmit the malaria parasite.

Keep mosquitoes from entering your house.

• Use screens in all your windows and doors.
• Regularly check those screens to make sure there aren’t any holes.
• If you find a hole, patch it with a small piece of screening or have the whole screen replaced. But whatever you do, keep those mosquitoes out!

If mosquitoes get inside, prevent them from biting.

• Use bed nets treated with insecticide, and use them properly. Bed nets hang above each bed and drape all the way around the mattress. Tuck in the bed net all around your mattress, with no spots for bugs to get in.
• Make sure that there aren’t any holes in the bed nets. If there are holes, patch them or sew them up.
• Find out if your bed net needs insecticide retreatment frequently. The chemical insecticide adds extra protection by killing the mosquitoes that try to bite you through the net. It also repels mosquitoes to some extent. The insecticide on older nets wears off after 6 to 12 months. Nets now being distributed have insecticide that lasts for 3 years.

• Have the walls of your house sprayed with insecticide every 6 to 12 months. This will kill the mosquitoes that make it inside.

When outside, keep mosquitoes off.

• Get into the habit of using insect repellent to prevent mosquitoes from biting.
• Wear long pants and long sleeves, so you don’t have any exposed skin for mosquitoes to bite.
• Don’t stay outside in the early morning or evening, when mosquitoes are most likely to bite.

Prevent mosquitoes from breeding in your yard and neighborhood.

• Remove any standing water. Mosquitoes lay eggs in still waters, so if you remove their breeding grounds you will have fewer mosquitoes. Fill in holes that become puddles, turn any bowls or pails upside down unless they are being used, and remove any decorative objects that collect water.
• Clean up that garbage, and keep garbage pails tightly covered. Open garbage pails, cans, bowls, and anything rounded can hold water and become breeding places for mosquitoes. Decomposing garbage forms a wet sludge, another spot where mosquitoes can lay eggs.

If everyone in your community takes these steps, the number of people who get sick from malaria will drop. Ultimately the goal is to eradicate this disease.