title: A community-wide study of malaria reduction: evaluating efficacy and user-acceptance of a low-cost repellent in northern Ghana.
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.
authors.affiliation: Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Legon, Accra, Ghana. sdadzie@noguchi.mimcom.org
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dadzie
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Boakye
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Asoala
authors.forename: Kwadwo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koram
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kiszewski
authors.forename: Maxwell
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Appawu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000187:drug effects; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007302:Insect Repellents; D007303:Insect Vectors; D057148:Insecticide-Treated Bednets / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007306:Insecticides; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000379:methods*; D012423:Rural Health; D012424:Rural Population
chemical_list: D007302:Insect Repellents; D007306:Insecticides