Abstract
In this chapter, we provide a brief review about some recent studies on mathematical modeling of malaria transmission in spatially heterogeneous environments. Deterministic models described by ordinary differential equations and reaction‐diffusion equations are used to investigate the spatial spread of malaria between humans and mosquitoes. Selected topics include the importance of modeling spatial heterogeneity, basic models with infective immigrants, multi‐patch models, and reaction‐diffusion models. The chapter ends with a brief discussion about possible future research directions.