Simply giving insecticide treated bed nets to families in malarious areas of the world may not be enough to stop malaria, says Tulane University international health researcher Kate Macintyre. Macintyre and colleagues recently published research showing 17 percent of children and 50 percent of adults in Eritrean households with a bed net did not sleep under the net regularly.

Insecticide treated bed nets are one of the main strategies used globally to prevent the spread of malaria. They are affordable and effective as long as they are used, says Macintyre.

The research team surveyed 2,241 households in Eritrea. The results showed that bed nets were more likely to be used by households close to a clinic, where bed net use can be explained. Knowledge of malaria transmission and the number of bed nets in a home also increase bed net use.

The next step, according to Macintyre, is to study the factors that might affect bed net use, such as prioritizing the household net for children or difficulty hanging the net every night. Understanding factors effecting use can help health managers promote net use more effectively, says Macintyre.

The research was published in the June issue of Tropical Medicine & International Health. The research was funded by the USAID and a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/American Schools of Public Health. Collaborators included representatives from the National Malaria Control Program of Eritrea (Yohannes Okbaldt, Mehari Zerom, and Tewolde Gebremeskel) and coauthors Joseph Keating, Stephen Sosler and Thomas Eisele.

Tulane University