Malaria Intervention: ACOMIN Seeks to Address Misuse of Insecticide Treated Nets

•Unveils survey report for Kano, Niger, Delta states

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Civil Society in Malaria Control, Immunization and Nutrition, (ACOMIN), has embarked on a campaign to sensitize Nigerians, especially those residing in rural areas, on the proper use of anti-malaria insecticide treated nets and the end-of-life disposal methods of the mosquito nets.

While unveiling of the report of the study on End-Life-Management of Long-lasting Insecticide-treated Nets (LLINs) yesterday in Abuja, the Senior Manager Operations for ACOMIN, Fatima Kolo, said the objective was to find factors hindering people in the affected communities from using the mosquito nets as well as its proper disposal.

The study conducted by ACOMIN with support from Vesterguard, Ipsos, National Malaria Elimination Programme, National Institutes of Medical Research (NIMR) took place in Kano, Niger and Delta states.

Kolo said the objectives of the dissemination meeting was to share the findings with partners and stake holders and also to look through the recommendations and provide a roadmap on how those recommendations can be implemented

She said that ACOMIN will also seek how to plug those recommendations into its future malaria intervention plans across the country.

She explained that majority of the findings of the study were a reflection of what was evident in the communities, particularly when it comes to the use of insecticide treated nets in Nigeria.

According to Kolo the disposal of the nets at the end-of-life comes with mixed feelings adding that most times the people are hesitant to let go the expired insecticide nets and may want deploy it for various other uses such as window blind, sieve and even for fishing.

“For some people, like we said, is provided use as screens for vegetable gardening, and if the nets have exhausted their use for preventing of malaria, those other uses are permissible, provided they do not cause harm to the environment and people within so it didn’t come as a surprise, and so it’s something that we’ve always seen in the communities,” she said.

The ACOMIN programme manager said that going forward, the organization intends to carry out intensive campaign educating the people on the proper use of the mosquito nets as well as their end-of-life disposal.

Despite acknowledging the efficacy of the insecticide treated nets in taking out mosquitoes, many people still point to the higher heat discomfort as a major disincentive.

The survey report showed that 82 percent of the respondents in the three states use the insecticide treated nets all year round whereas 17 percent use them only in mosquito season.

The study showed that (62.1percent) of people interviewed said that the main reasons for non-use of the insecticide nets is due excessive heat, 21.2 percent of the respondents said it causes skin irritation while 11 percent said they normally perceive chemical smell from the mosquito nets

The Principal Investigator and a leading researcher at the University of Abuja who led the team that carried out the survey in the three states, Prof. Adeyanju Temitope Peters, said the goal of the study was to look at the environmental effect of improper disposal of insecticide treated nets and the public health risk associated with wrong management.

“We’ve come to appreciate the fact that this insecticide treated nets have gone a long way to actually help reduce the burden of malaria parasite disease in Africa and in Nigeria.

“So now we’re concerned about its management, its waste. When it gets to its end of life, the end of life the deal is between three to four years after its usage. So, what do people do with it?

“So here comes in the concept of either you are reusing it, or you are repurposing it, or you are recycling it, or you are disposing it,” he said.

He said that presently in most parts of Nigeria, people reuse the expired mosquito nets as widow blind and sometimes to even keep some of their foodstuffs.

“Some people even use it as Sievers, and because of the chemical content is also affecting our system, he added .and other partners.