This rapid rate of urban growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the associated demographic, environmental and socioeconomic changes modify the epidemiology of vector-borne diseases, and more specifically of malaria. Thus far, malaria has been considered a predominantly rural disease in Africa and malaria intervention across the continent remains focussed on rural, highly endemic communities with far fewer strategic policy directions for the control of malaria in fast growing cities.

Yet, urban malaria in sub-Saharan Africa is a major health problem that is likely to become increasingly important, unless addressed. The heterogeneity of intra-urban malaria risk is not captured in continental risk-mapping initiatives. Better identifying the pockets of focal transmission within urban areas would be extremely useful for policy makers as it would help to better target interventions within urban areas where the high population densities make a large population at risk. Moreover, the inter-urban risk variations have never been taken into account in malaria risk modelling. The main goals of REACT are therefor to improve our knowledge on 1) intra-urban malaria risk and 2) inter-urban malaria risk, by harnessing multi-temporal and -scale remote sensing capabilities.