The Mapping Malaria Risk in Africa (MARA) project will use computerized geographic information systems (GIS) to create an atlas of malaria risk in Africa. This is the first time GIS will be used to predict such risk and the first attempt to map malaria risk on a continental scale. Many heterogenous data sets relevant to the transmission dynamics of the disease will be combined, including the manipulation of the climatic factors which affect vector distribution and malaria transmission into a new index of malaria risk, and its validation against actual data. Specifically, the MARA project will collate measures of malaria risk, mainly the parasite ratio and annual incidence, to obtain an index for Africa and to create a continental, spatial, and temporal database. Five planned regional centers will work with a coordinating center in Durban, South Africa. The effort recently received its first funding. Canada's International Development Research Center, the World Health Organization/TDR bednet task force, the Wellcome Trust, and the South African Medical Research Council are supporting the effort.