Malaria is a vector-borne disease; this means that it has to be spread through a “vector” species, which in this case are female mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. The female mosquito needs to feed on blood in order to produce eggs; most species lay eggs every 2-3 days, which means each female mosquito needs to take very regular blood meals.
Around 20 species of Anopheles mosquito have been implicated in the transmission of malaria; some species are better than others at acting as a vector. The most important group in Africa is the Anopheles gambiae complex; these mosquitoes are also relatively long-lived, which is important for transmission since it means that whole portions of the malaria parasite’s life cycle can be completed inside the vector mosquito.