Modeling the Impact of Mint–Leaf Therapy and Sanitation on Malaria Transmission among Infants

Abstract

Malaria transmission among infants remains a persistent concern to health care practitioners in regions with this disease equilibrium, motivated by the assessment of complementary intervention alongside conventional treatment strategies can help submerge this prevalence. This study investigate the combined effects of mint–leaf (Mentha piperita) herbal therapy and environmental hygiene on malaria dynamics within infant population. The human population is partitioned into susceptible, exposed, infectious, mint–treated and recovered compartments, while the vector dynamics are represented by the infected mosquito population. To enhance epidemiological realism, mosquito-to-human transmission is described by a linear saturated force of infection that incorporates sanitation effects and restricts unbounded growth of infection pressure at elevated vector densities. Two time-dependent control functions are embedded in the model: mint–leaf therapy, which augments treatment and recovery rates and sanitation measures, which attenuate bidirectional transmission between humans and mosquitoes. The model further incorporates newborn recruitment, inflow of infected infants, natural mortality, waning immunity and mosquito population turnover. Qualitative analysis confirms the well-possedness of the model by establishing positivity and boundedness of solutions within a positively invariant region. Numerical simulation was carried out using the Laplace adomian decomposition method to demonstrate the effectiveness of the control measures. Simulation results has a significant reduction in infectious infants and infected mosquitoes under enhanced herbal treatment and sanitation coverage. This model provides a robust means to evaluate malaria control strategies through mint leaf and offers a foundation for further stability, sensitivity and optimal control analysis of this therapy.