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. 2013 Feb;88(2):309-14.
doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2012.12-0370. Epub 2012 Dec 18.

A community-wide study of malaria reduction: evaluating efficacy and user-acceptance of a low-cost repellent in northern Ghana

Samuel Dadzie  1 , Daniel Boakye, Victor Asoala, Kwadwo Koram, Anthony Kiszewski, Maxwell Appawu
Affiliations

A community-wide study of malaria reduction: evaluating efficacy and user-acceptance of a low-cost repellent in northern Ghana

Samuel Dadzie et al. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2013 Feb.

Abstract

NO MAS (NM) mosquito repellent was evaluated in two farming villages (4 km apart) in the Kassena Nankana district of northern Ghana. We determined its efficacy against local malaria vectors, degree of user acceptance, and its effect on malaria prevalence in households using insecticide-treated bed nets. The average protective efficacy of NM against Anopheles mosquitoes over 9 hours was 89.6%. Controls averaged 86 bites/person/night versus 9 bites/person/night with the use of NM. Use of repellent was associated with a decrease of absolute malaria prevalence by 19.2% in the repellent village and by 6.5% in the control village (45.5 to 26.3, and 29.5 to 23.0, respectively). The user-acceptance rate of NM repellent was 96.1%. Ten percent (10%) of repellent users reported irritation as the main adverse effect during the period. Eighty-five percent (85%) of the users found the odor of NM appealing and 87% reported no inconvenience in applying the repellent daily.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: A U.S. patent for the repellent mentioned in this manuscript was awarded to S.T. Darling in 2010. The research that appears here was partly funded by him. All co-authors of this paper gave their services freely to this effort and, therefore, retained their independence from the funder.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Percentage level of protection (efficacy) of NO MAS (NM) repellent when used in the night.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Perceptions of the community on NO MAS (NM) repellent after 3 months usage.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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