In this village in southern Tanzania some rather unusual buildings have appeared.
These modern houses are designed to tackle diseases like malaria.
This family are moving out of their traditional home and into a new one.
In this region researchers found that a third of the children had malaria.
It's a deadly disease that affects the whole community.
This is one of the poorest parts of of Tanzania
and that means if they have a sick child in the house it's a big problem. It's hard even for
them to afford transport to go to the hospital.
A team from Tanzania, the UK and Denmark...
wanted to see if better housing could help.
Traditional houses don't tend to be well ventilated.
This means people often don't use mosquito nets because of the heat.
And mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide which we breathe out.
So together with Danish architecture firm Ingbartzen
they designed a home that mosquitoes wouldn't like.
They're called Star Homes. But how do they fight malaria?
First they're two stories high and that's because mosquitoes tend to fly near the ground. They are
very light, they can be blown by the wind but also they can be eaten by bats and stuff when they fly
high. So these houses that we have designed the sleeping area is on the top floor which makes it
difficult for the mosquitoes to get in.
Second the house is well ventilated which means it's cooler
and the carbon dioxide is more dispersed.
If you have good ventilation like the good airflow that
means someone who is living there can sleep under the bed net comfortably because it's not too warm.
There are a 110 Star Homes in the area. The occupants were chosen by a lottery.
The Ndende family were one of the first to move in.
Some villagers were suspicious of the modern homes but Fatima Ndende finds them healthier.
Over the next three years the families will be monitored
to see if they catch malaria less than those in traditional houses.
In a pilot study with similar two-story houses researchers found that 95%
fewer mosquitoes got in.
In future they want to use more local materials in the construction.
But Salum believes that better housing can play a big role in disease prevention.
So my dream is to see
everybody, especially in the rural community living in a healthier house and I know when we get this
transmission of diseases like malaria, respiratory infection barrier diseases will go very well.