Efficacy of insecticide treated hammock nets (ITHNS) on forest malaria control in Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Background: Forest malaria is one of the challenges faced by the Malaria Control Program in Vietnam. Objectives: (1). To evaluate the malaria prevalence among forest goers, (2). To study the efficacy of insecticide-treated hammock net (ITHNs) in malaria prevention for forest goers. Subject and method: The descriptive epidemiological intervention study on the effect of ITHNs in forest malaria control has been carried out in Ninh Thuan in 2005 \ufffd?2006. Results: Malaria prevalence among forest goers was very high Clinical malaria 15.5%, enlarged spleen 7.0%, confirmed cases 13.3% and asymptomactic cases 74%. Age, sex, ethnic, low educated levels, low income, less use of mosquito-nets and poor house condition were considered as risk factors in malaria infection, especially for people who spent much time in the forest. ITHNs were effective in prevention of malaria infection, the malaria morbidity was decreased after 2 years of application (reduced from 31 % to 14% for prevalence, and from 274/1000 population to 161/1000 population for incidence), and the morbidity rate was lower than that in the group of people who did not use ITHNs. Conclusion: For the entomological survey, it is found that Anopheles density reduced in the group of people prevented by ITHNs. The residual of insecticide on the hammock net was decreased after 2 years utilization.\r\n', u'\r\n', u'\r\n', u'