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CSU 24/2008: PREVENTING CHILD MALARIA BY PROTECTING ADULTS WITH BED NETS

Friday, 30th of May 2008

  CSU 24/2008: PREVENTING CHILD MALARIA BY PROTECTING ADULTS WITH BED NETS

 

  
 To date, most distribution programmes for malaria bed nets have used the
 high risk approach, distributing to pregnant women and either infants or
 under-fives. In this article from PLOS/Medicine, Killeen and colleagues
 make the case for ‘nets for all.’
 
 From their findings and conclusions:
 
 ’We show that high (80% use) cut exclusively targeted coverage of young
 children and pregnant women (representing<20% of the population) will
 deliver limited protection and equity for these vulnerable groups. In
 contrast, relatively modest coverage (35 to 65% use, with this threshold
 depending on ecological scenario and net quality) of all adults and
 children, rather than just vulnerable groups, can achieve equitable
 community wide benefits equivalent to or greater than personal
 protection. . . . Coverage of entire populations will be required to
 accomplish large  reductions of the malaria burden in Africa. While coverage of vulnerable
 groups should still be prioritized, the equitable and communal benefits of
 wide-scale ITN use by older children and adults should be explicitly
 promoted and evaluated by national malaria control programmes.’
 
 
 Those (highly numerate) readers who wish to consult the whole article can
 access it at
 http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0040229
 
 The text is challenging; the extensive footnotes are a usefulintroduction
 to the whole subject of bed nets.
 
 Good reading.
 
 BD

 
 
 To date, most distribution programmes for malaria bed nets have used the
 high risk approach, distributing to pregnant women and either infants or
 under-fives. In this article from PLOS/Medicine, Killeen and colleagues
 make the case for ‘nets for all.’
 
 From their findings and conclusions:
 
 ’We show that high (80% use) cut exclusively targeted coverage of young
 children and pregnant women (representing<20% of the population) will
 deliver limited protection and equity for these vulnerable groups. In
 contrast, relatively modest coverage (35 to 65% use, with this threshold
 depending on ecological scenario and net quality) of all adults and
 children, rather than just vulnerable groups, can achieve equitable
 community wide benefits equivalent to or greater than personal
 protection. . . . Coverage of entire populations will be required to
 accomplish large  reductions of the malaria burden in Africa. While coverage of vulnerable
 groups should still be prioritized, the equitable and communal benefits of
 wide-scale ITN use by older children and adults should be explicitly
 promoted and evaluated by national malaria control programmes.’
 
 
 Those (highly numerate) readers who wish to consult the whole article can
 access it at
 http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0040229
 
 The text is challenging; the extensive footnotes are a usefulintroduction
 to the whole subject of bed nets.
 
 Good reading.
 
 BD