Salum Mshamu Showed How Smarter Home Design Can Prevent Deadly Diseases

Mshamu first trained as a nurse, but felt he could make a bigger difference in public health. After he got his master’s at Lund University in Sweden, he teamed up with architect Jakob Brandtberg Knudsen, and Lorenz von Seidlein, professor at the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Bangkok, Thailand. Soon, with Mshamu as a doctoral student at the University of Oxford, the three were collaborating on an exciting new project in Tanzania called Star Homes, focusing on trialing homes designed to reduce the spread of malaria, as well as diarrheal infections, which kill nearly 2 million children in middle- and low-income countries annually, and respiratory infections, which account for about 350,000 childhood deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa. At first glance, the homes, of which 110 were built across more than 50 villages, seem an odd fit. Their concrete floors and metal roofs look nothing like the region’s traditional rammed earth houses. But earthen houses are often too hot at night for their inhabitants to use protective mosquito netting, and problems with sanitation and ventilation increase disease risk. Mshamu and his colleagues were interested in trying another way.The Star Homes team put an air-permeable mesh around the entire home to reduce internal temperatures while still allowing good airflow. This lowers indoor carbon dioxide, which attracts malaria mosquitos. They also raised the sleeping areas high enough to deter the insects, which prefer to stay close to the ground. The houses have their own water filtration systems, latrines, and solar-powered lights, plus a ventilated kitchen space with a lockable storage area to keep pests out of food.In April 2026, the Star Homes project published the striking results of a randomized controlled trial involving more than 600 families. Compared to children living in a traditional home, those living in a Star Home saw a 44% drop in malaria risk, 30% fewer diarrheal infections, and 18% fewer acute respiratory infections. In a part of the world where climate change promises even greater challenges going forward, Mshamu hopes others across the continent will draw inspiration from these innovative structures.“We have to engage the policy makers and see how to scale this up—maybe a mortgage program that can be helpful for the people in the villages,” he says. “We are just exploring different options, but we really would like to see the scaling up of this project, to see that people are actually using the design.”