Month: October 2012

A study by Loha and colleges in Plos One looked at the effect of IRS and ITNs in a village in Southern Ethiopia:

The level of ITN utilization increased after mass distribution of ITNs; however it did not lower the risk for malaria clustering. Therefore, it is possible that free mass distribution of ITNs is not an effective tool with which to combat malaria without follow-up to ensure the optimal utilization of the ITNs.

Of course, there are several studies showing the effect of bed net usage on community malaria incidence, but there is a lack of studies showing the effectiveness of ITNs dependent on the involved vector. In the study are Anopheles arabiensis is the dominant vector, a mosquito which feed indoor as well as outdoor, and possibly before people go to bed.

This week Dori et al. published an interesting study about perceptions of malaria in the Konso community in Ethiopia:

Using a structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, this study aimed to gain deeper insight on how the Konso community in Ethiopia perceives malaria and manages the disease. Although knowledge about malaria was above average it surfaced that the use of herbal home remedies is widespread. It is argued that this practice warrants further investigation to validate the efficacy and safety of plant preparations that are employed.

The MW-journal was new to me. It is as open access journal which does not charge the authors (or the readers) for publishing articles. It will be interesting to see if the community embraces this journal, and if it is a threat to Malaria Journal.