Promoting the Use of Insecticide Treated Materials at the Community Level: Experience from the ITN-Oriade Initiative

A survey of 4,309 respondents from the local community was conducted. There was a high level of poor access to sanitary methods of refuse disposal with 63.1 percent disposing their refuse in open dumps and 35.3 percent obtained their water from streams, rivers, and rain. More than two-thirds of respondents accepted environmental control methods as a feasible strategy for organized community participation in malaria control. Insecticide treated bed nets (ITN) were introduced for personal protection. Although the nets were accepted, the high cost of initial purchase limits its use. local strategies for participatory control of malaria include environmental methods, home based management of simple malaria, with referral capacity for the management of complicated and severe malaria built and/or strengthened at facility level. Furthermore, personal protection using ITN may be enhanced with higher subsidy for the initial purchase of the nets and the establishment of community-managed treatment centers.