The effectiveness of community-based programs in preventing dengue: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

ABSTRACT

Background@#The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of community-based programs in preventing dengue thru systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized control trials.@*Methods@#All randomized control trials on the evaluation of the effectiveness of community-based programs in dengue prevention were searched on reliable databases (MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, ClinicalTrials.gov, Google Scholar, etc.). From a total of 32 studies that were identified as of April 2021, there were 11 studies that were included after screening of the titles and abstracts by the review authors. A computer software Revman v.5.4 was used for the statistical analyses needed for the study. All the included studies were encoded in the said software and the effect of the interventions were estimated using odds ratio for the different measurable dengue indices along with an encoded 95% confidence interval@*Results@#The community-based programs used in the included studies were generally effective in preventing dengue using House index (OR=0.83 (95% CI=0.70-0.98), p=0.03), Container index (OR=0.61 (95% CI=0.50-0.74), p<0.01) and Breteau index (OR=0.92 (95% CI=0.81-1.04), p=0.18) as the outcome of measure. The subgroup analysis showed that environmental manipulation [(HI: OR=0.59 (95% CI=0.37-0.92), p= 0.02); (CI: OR=0.54 (95% CI=0.20-1.44), p=0.22); (BI: OR=0.58 (95% CI=0.33-0.88), p=0.010)] had a greater effect towards dengue prevention as compared to human behavior alone or in combination with it.@*Conclusion@#We conclude that environmental management or programs involving community participation is an effective strategy in dengue prevention. Community empowerment and capacity building are indeed important elements to achieve dengue control.