Malaria-causing mosquitoes are changing their feeding habits, getting their meals earlier in the evening before people go to sleep under nets.

The Fifth Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Pan-African Conference, organised by the Kenya Medical Research Institute, is expected to attract over 3,000 scholars.

This change in feeding time is yet another way the insects are circumventing some of the latest technology that has lowered the incidence of malaria in the country by 40 per cent.

Mosquitoes are known to feed late at night but researchers say the vectors are now feeding early in the evening, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the nets.

These findings are among the 800 studies on malaria which will be presented next week in Nairobi at one of the largest scientific conferences to be held over a single disease in Africa.

The potential new information calls on us to pursue the multiple prevention tools available. We will keep an eye on the research coming our of te conference and pass it on.