Population impact of malaria control interventions in the health district of Kati, Mali.

BACKGROUND

WHO and its partners have adopted alternative control interventions since the failure to eradicate malaria worldwide in the 1960s and 1970s. The aim of these interventions has been to redesign the control interventions to make them more effective and more efficient. The purpose of this study is to assess the population impact of control interventions implemented at the community health area level.

METHODS

The analysis used data from the health information system on malaria cases and interventions (distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs), seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), access to rapid diagnostic tests (RDT), intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women (IPTp)) collected in the Kati health district from 2017 to 2020. And the contextual parameters (temperature, normal difference vegetation index (NDVI) and rainfall) were obtained by remote sensing. A generalized additive model was used to assess the impact of malaria control interventions on malaria cases as a function of meteorological factors.

RESULTS

The incidence of malaria varies from year to year and from health area to health area, as do meteorological factors in the study area. The distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, chemoprevention of seasonal malaria in children and access to rapid diagnostic tests for malaria were found to have a significant impact on the incidence of malaria in the population. Seasonal malaria chemoprevention was effective in reducing the incidence of malaria, while distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets and access to rapid diagnostic tests increased with the number of malaria cases, reflecting efforts to distribute and use bed nets and to diagnose malaria cases among the population in the study area.

CONCLUSION

The study showed the impact of SMC on reducing malaria cases in the population and the significant efforts in LLIN distribution and malaria case diagnosis. To further reduce the burden of malaria, sustained efforts and new interventions are needed, including improving access to rapid diagnosis and treatment in communities by developing community health workers and locally tailored mass drug administration.