TY - JOUR

T1 - Scepticism towards insecticide treated mosquito nets for malaria control in a rural community in northwestern Tanzania

AU - Nnko, Soori

AU - Whyte, Susan Reynolds

AU - Geissler, Wenzel

AU - Aagaard-Hansen, Jens

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - Despite existence of effective tools for malaria control, malaria continues to be one of theleading killer diseases especially among under-five year children and pregnant women in poor ruralpopulations of Sub Saharan Africa. In Tanzania Mainland the disease contributes to 39.4% of the totalOPD attendances. In terms of mortality, malaria is known to be responsible for more than one third ofdeaths among children of age below 5 years and also contributes for up to one fifth of deaths amongpregnant women. This paper is based on a study conducted in a rural community along the shores ofLake Victoria in Mwanza region, North-Western Tanzania. The study explores reasons for scepticismand low uptake of insecticide treated mosquito nets (ITNs) that were promoted through socialmarketing strategy for malaria control prior to the introduction of long lasting nets (LLN). The paperbreaks from traditional approach that tend to study low uptake of health interventions in terms ofstructural practical constraints – cost, accessibility, everyday priorities – or in terms of cognition –insufficient knowledge of benefits e.g. ignorance of public health messages. This paper has shownthat, the majority of people who could afford the prices of ITNs and who knew where to obtain theinsecticides did not necessarily buy them. This suggests that, although people tend to report costrelatedfactors as a barrier against the use of ITNs, there are other critical concerns at work. Withoutunderestimating the practical factors, our study have recommended to consider critical examinationsof those other concerns that hinder optimal utilization of ITN for malaria control, and the basis forthose concerns.

AB - Despite existence of effective tools for malaria control, malaria continues to be one of theleading killer diseases especially among under-five year children and pregnant women in poor ruralpopulations of Sub Saharan Africa. In Tanzania Mainland the disease contributes to 39.4% of the totalOPD attendances. In terms of mortality, malaria is known to be responsible for more than one third ofdeaths among children of age below 5 years and also contributes for up to one fifth of deaths amongpregnant women. This paper is based on a study conducted in a rural community along the shores ofLake Victoria in Mwanza region, North-Western Tanzania. The study explores reasons for scepticismand low uptake of insecticide treated mosquito nets (ITNs) that were promoted through socialmarketing strategy for malaria control prior to the introduction of long lasting nets (LLN). The paperbreaks from traditional approach that tend to study low uptake of health interventions in terms ofstructural practical constraints – cost, accessibility, everyday priorities – or in terms of cognition –insufficient knowledge of benefits e.g. ignorance of public health messages. This paper has shownthat, the majority of people who could afford the prices of ITNs and who knew where to obtain theinsecticides did not necessarily buy them. This suggests that, although people tend to report costrelatedfactors as a barrier against the use of ITNs, there are other critical concerns at work. Withoutunderestimating the practical factors, our study have recommended to consider critical examinationsof those other concerns that hinder optimal utilization of ITN for malaria control, and the basis forthose concerns.

U2 - http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/thrb.v14i2.2

DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/thrb.v14i2.2

M3 - Journal article

VL - 14

JO - Tanzania Journal of Health Research

JF - Tanzania Journal of Health Research

SN - 1821-6404

IS - 2

ER -