Table 1 Description of the study villages, their geographical features and meteorological information.

Altitude(M)

750

920

1050

700

Rainfalls (mm)-2004

589

290

980

280

Min.Temp (0C)

24.7

26.7

22.1

26

Max.Temp (0C)

29.4

31.2

29

30.3

Landscape

Rural northern Tanzania; extensive swamps and savannah grassland

Peri urban-semi arid, northern Tanzania

Rural, northern Tanzania, bare hills, swamps and grassland.

Rural-central Tanzania, semi-arid.

Ethnic groups and Economic activities

Masai, Pare and Chagga, growing maize, vegetable, rice and keeping large groups of cattle.

Pare, mainly growing maize and have cattle heads.

Pare, mainly growing maize, banana trees, sugarcane, rice and beans. They have cattle heads around.

Gogo, Growing maize and ground nuts, they have large groups of cattle around their houses.

Any Cattle kept in compound about 5 to 10 meters from sleeping house.

285 (71.4%)

605 (84.1%)

1509 (72.5%)

702 (67.4%)

Mosquito net in selected households.

322 (81.0%)

520 (72.3%)

1797 (86.0%)

512 (49.1%)