Malaria

Malaria is a significant threat to health globally, affecting more than 200 million people and causing nearly 700,000 deaths per year. In spite of significant global declines in new cases and deaths since 2000, the greatest burden continues to be in children living in Africa. Vector control efforts, a critical component of malaria control in Africa and elsewhere, are threatened by mosquito resistance to current insecticides used in long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) methods – the two major vector control interventions currently in use.  TRAction is leading the way in researching innovative strategies to prevent malaria transmission and ongoing efforts are designed to test the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of vector control tools. New technologies such as durable insecticide-treated wall liners (DLs) offer promising alternatives to IRS and LLINs for areas with insecticide resistance. The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), in collaboration with the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is currently conducting research on insecticide-treated durable wall lining (DL) as a novel vector control measure in the Muheza and Handeni districts of the Tanga region of Tanzania. Findings from this study will contribute to best practices in malaria prevention programming and may help inform national and local level decision-making by policymakers.  In the past, TRAction funded a study in Muleba District Tanzania to investigate whether high coverage of long-lasting insecticide-treated bednets (LLINs) reduced the need for indoor residual spraying of insecticides (IRS). The research aimed to determine whether the use of LLINs alone is equally effective as the combined use of IRS plus LLINs.

 

TRAction's current project is currently in the data collection phase and results are forthcoming.  TRAction's past study yielded significant results concerning the efficacy of LLINs and IRS used in combination.  This is the first randomised trial to our knowledge that provides evidence that IRS, when used in combination with LLINs, can give significant added protection against malarial infection compared to LLIN use alone. There were several key outcomes from the research that highlight the importance of the study:

The findings from this study suggest that national malaria control programs should consider implementing IRS in combination with LLINs if local LLIN strategies alone are insufficiently effective and cannot be improved.