A second-order nonstandard finite difference method for a malaria propagation model with control

Abstract

Standard numerical methods such as Runge–Kutta and Euler methods have been widely used to approximate solutions to nonlinear systems. These methods converge to the solution only for small step sizes; for larger time steps, they generally generate spurious or chaotic solutions. In this paper, we consider a malaria propagation model with control for which we construct a second-order nonstandard finite difference scheme that preserves the important mathematical properties of the continuous model, which are positivity, boundedness, and stability of solutions irrespective of the step size. Moreover, we show that the equilibrium points of the discrete model are the same as those of the continuous model. By applying the double mesh principle, we provide evidence that the second-order NSFD scheme approximates the true solution with small errors. Theoretical assertions and numerical results show the advantages of the developed second-order nonstandard finite difference method.