Abstract
BackgroundMalaria control remains a challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) reinforced the recommendation of indoor residual spraying (IRS) with dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) to reduce malaria transmission. The National Malaria Control Programme has been reporting high coverage rates of IRS in Mozambique. It is important to establish to what extent these rates are a reflection of community acceptability, and to explore the factors associated with adherence, in order to recommend suitable approaches for interventions of this nature.ObjectiveTo understand the implementation process, reception and acceptability of the IRS program in Manhiça district, Southern Mozambique.MethodsQualitative data was collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation of IRS activities, informal interviews, and focus group discussions. Study participants comprised householders, community leaders, health care providers, sprayers, and community members. Qualitative data analysis was based on grounded theory. Secondary data from the Manhiça Demographic Surveillance System was used to complement the qualitative data.ResultsIRS was well received in most neighbourhoods. The overall coverage rates varied between 29% and 41% throughout the study period. The factors related to adherence to IRS were: immediate impact on insects in general, trust and obedience in the health authority, community leaders' influence, and acquaintance with the sprayers. Fighting malaria was not an important motivation for IRS adherence. There was a perception of limited efficacy of IRS against mosquitoes, but this did not affect adherence. Non-adherence to the intervention was mainly due to the unavailability of key householders, disagreement with the procedures, and the perception that spraying increased the burden of insects. Most respondents strongly favoured bed nets over IRS.ConclusionThe study suggests that the contribution of IRS to malaria and mosquito control is not entirely perceived by the beneficiaries, and that other as cost effective interventions such as insecticide-treated nets are favoured over IRS. Adherence to IRS was found to be influenced by socio-political factors. There is a need to redefine the community sensitization approaches in order to make IRS a genuinely participative, acceptable, and sustainable programme.
Highlights
Malaria control remains a challenge in sub-Saharan Africa
The study suggests that the contribution of indoor residual spraying (IRS) to malaria and mosquito control is not entirely perceived by the beneficiaries, and that other as cost effective interventions such as insecticide-treated nets are favoured over IRS
Some sprayers compared the teaching methods employed in the training course with military training approaches, in the sense that the sessions were physically hard, some of the information was conveyed in the form of commands, and more attention was paid on their physical and technical preparedness rather than the theoretical aspects of IRS and malaria control
Summary
Malaria control remains a challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) reinforced the recommendation of indoor residual spraying (IRS) with dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) to reduce malaria transmission. The National Malaria Control Programme has been reporting high coverage rates of IRS in Mozambique. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends indoor residual spraying (IRS), including with dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), as a malaria vector control measure [7]. With the selection of the southern region of Mozambique for the implementation of WHO’s pre-eradication programme, IRS with DDT was intensified in the early 1960’s [10], but it was scaled down in the late 1960s, as a reflection of the abandonment of the eradication commitments observed worldwide [5,9]. IRS was reintroduced in the early 1990s in selected areas [5]
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