Exploring The Experiments of Mass Distributions of Bed Nets in The Community to Prevent Malaria in Kisantu Health Zone, Democratic Republic of Congo: A Qualitative Study

Authors

  • Gillon Ilombe National Institute of Biomedical Research, Department of Parasitology, Unit of Entomology, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Antwerp University, Faculty of Medicine, Global health Institute, Antwerp, Belgium
  • Nicole Muela Miaka Programme Elargi de Vaccination, Division logistique, Ministère de la santé publique, Kinshasa, République Démocratique du Congo
  • Aimee Lulebo University of Kinshasa, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health School, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Vivi Maketa University of Kinshasa, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Tropical Medicine, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Yanneeck Kalonji University of Kinshasa, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health School, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Sylvain Baloji National Program for the control of human African trypanosomiasis in Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Mesia Kahunu University of Kinshasa, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Base science, Unit of Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacovigilance, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Alain Mpanya National Program for the control of human African trypanosomiasis in Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Pascal Lutumba University of Kinshasa, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Tropical Medicine, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14738/bjhmr.103.14779

Keywords:

Kisantu Health Zone, bed nets in the community, Qualitative Study

Abstract

Despite its discovery more than a century, malaria remains a of public health problem. One of the pillars in the strategy to fighting it is the use of the mosquito net, which remains the only significant tool of prevention. This study is to evaluate the knowledge, perception and experiments of the mass campaign distribution of the mosquito nets in the community one year after the distribution. A qualitative study, centered on households, was carried out in the community of Kisantu Health Zone (KHZ) in the end of clinical trial in 2019. The semi-structured interviews with community leaders and individual focus groups with women having at least one child, were selected in six villages of the of KHZ. Among the respondents, the all had a good level of knowledge of mosquito nets, namely the proper definition of a mosquito net, the correct mode of installation in a sleeping space and that the occurrence of such holes in a mosquito net could be repaired but that was grounds for its inefficiency. The minority either cleaned the mosquito net with powdered laundry soap, and spread out to dry under the sun. The undesirable events related to the use of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) as well as occurrence of holes was quoted by a minority of the respondents as grounds of the weak use of LLINs in households.  After one year of distribution, majority possession and the minority gave up use because of attrition or an adverse effect allotted to the use of LLINs.

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Published

2023-06-03

How to Cite

Ilombe, G., Miaka, N. M., Lulebo, A., Maketa, V., Kalonji, Y., Baloji, S., Kahunu, M., Mpanya, A., & Lutumba, P. (2023). Exploring The Experiments of Mass Distributions of Bed Nets in The Community to Prevent Malaria in Kisantu Health Zone, Democratic Republic of Congo: A Qualitative Study. British Journal of Healthcare and Medical Research, 10(3), 257–264. https://doi.org/10.14738/bjhmr.103.14779