Puddles, creeks, and drainage: connected histories of water and malaria in Zanzibar, 1910–2021

Abstract

This article draws on a combination of archival and oral sources in order to highlight the connected histories of water and malaria on the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar (Unguja) over the past century. We argue that in both the past and the present, water and malaria have been deeply connected, through the lifecycle of the disease, through control measures enacted, and in how Zanzibari residents continue to talk about the relationship between rain, puddles, stagnant water, and disease. Archival sources show that between roughly 1913 and 1957, the British colonial government managed malaria by managing water. That entailed a focus on watery breeding sites that included attention to both the micro: cattle hoofprints, and the macro: a multi-decade drainage of the tidal creek and surrounding swamp. These water-based malaria control efforts were limited in their efficacy by being geographically restricted to urban Zanzibar Town, and often limited to just the Stone Town area. 98 interviews conducted with Zanzibaris about malaria indicate that people continue to draw strong connections between malaria and the environment (mazingira), and that they most commonly discuss water’s relationship with malaria in terms of puddles (dimbwi/madimbwi), small puddles (kidimbwi/vidimbwi) and stagnant water (maji yaliyotuama).