Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan;7(1):e006879.
doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006879.

'Where are the dead flies!': perceptions of local communities towards the deployment of Tiny Targets to control tsetse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Catiane Vander Kelen  1 , Alain Mpanya  2 , Epco Hasker  3 , Erick Miaka  2 , Ruth Nzuzi  2 , Steve Torr  4 , Dennis Perez  5 , Justin Pulford  6
Affiliations

'Where are the dead flies!': perceptions of local communities towards the deployment of Tiny Targets to control tsetse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Catiane Vander Kelen et al. BMJ Glob Health. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

The National Programme for the control of human African trypanosomiasis in Democratic Republic of Congo includes a large-scale vector control operation using Tiny Targets. These are small panels of insecticide-impregnated cloth that are deployed in riverine habitat where tsetse flies concentrate. The effectiveness of Tiny Targets depends partly on acceptance by local communities. In 2018, we conducted research to explore the perception and acceptability of Tiny Targets in two different village clusters where Tiny Targets had been deployed by the local community or external teams. We conducted fourteen focus group discussions and seven semistructured interviews in three villages from each cluster in the Yasa Bonga health zone. Our findings showed that acceptability was better in the cluster where communities were involved in the deployment of Tiny Targets. Also in this cluster, awareness about Tiny Targets was satisfactory and the project was implemented within local customs, which promoted a positive perception of Tiny Targets and their benefits. In the cluster where external teams deployed Tiny Targets, a lack of information and communication, stereotypes applied by communities towards the deployment teams and the impression of inadequate respect for local customs led to anxiety and a misleading interpretation of the purpose of Tiny Targets and negatively influenced acceptability. This study highlights the importance of involving communities for programme acceptance. Our research underlined how awareness campaigns and communication are essential, but also how working within the scope of community social norms and customs are equally important. Prospects for the successful use of Tiny Targets are greater when communities are involved because the use can be adapted to social norms.

Keywords: human african trypanosomiasis; qualitative study.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Tiny Target (credit: CVK).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pilot areas for vector control projects using Tiny Targets between 2015 and 2018, Kwilu Province, DRC. DRC, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Villages of the study location, Yasa Bonga, Kwilu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo or RDC (Republique Démocratique du Congo (credit: CVK).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Village cluster’s perception of the deployment process and communication received on the process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Tirados I, Esterhuizen J, Kovacic V, et al. . Tsetse control and Gambian sleeping sickness; implications for control strategy. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2015;9:e0003822. 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003822 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organisation . Global health Observatory data Repository, number of new reported cases (T.b. gambiense) data by country. Available: http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.A1636?lang=en2019http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.A1636?lang=en
    1. Simarro PP, Cecchi G, Franco JR, et al. . Monitoring the progress towards the elimination of gambiense human African trypanosomiasis. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2015;9:e0003785. 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003785 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Holmes P. First WHO meeting of stakeholders on elimination of gambiense human African trypanosomiasis. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2014;8:e3244. 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003244 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Solano P, Torr SJ, Lehane MJ. Is vector control needed to eliminate gambiense human African trypanosomiasis? Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2013;3:33. 10.3389/fcimb.2013.00033 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources