Human mobility plays an important role in the dissemination of malaria parasites
between regions of variable transmission intensity. Asymptomatic individuals can unknowingly
carry parasites to regions where mosquito vectors are available, for example, undermining control
programs and contributing to transmission when they travel. Understanding how parasites
are imported between regions in this way is therefore an important goal for elimination planning
and the control of transmission, and would enable control programs to target the principal
sources of malaria. Measuring human mobility has traditionally been difficult to do on a population
scale, but the widespread adoption of mobile phones in low-income settings presents a unique
opportunity to directly measure human movements that are relevant to the spread of
malaria. Here, we discuss the opportunities for measuring human mobility using data from mobile
phones, as well as some of the issues associated with combining mobility estimates with malaria
infection risk maps to meaningfully estimate routes of parasite importation.