Abstract:

Indoor residual spray and insecticide mosquito nets have been widely used as an effective
alternative for the prevention and control of malaria, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Due to the growing number of actions and interventions reporting the effectiveness of vector control in malaria protection, there is a need to systematically review the literature on indoor residual spray and insecticide mosquito nets to examine the effectiveness and identify research coverages in the area of the topic. A systematic review of over 579 scholarly articles published since the year 2013 was conducted. The final dataset included 100 articles; consequently, the research shows significant improvements in the coverage of malaria intervention tools since 2000. This resulted in following the Abuja agreement that targeted to increase the coverage of insecticide mosquito nets by 60% for children under five years of age and pregnant women and target spray of households in malaria areas with indoor residual sprayings. While there is substantial heterogeneity in study characteristics and effect size, the decline in malaria mortality and morbidity rates achieved throughout the continent. However, malaria continued as a public health challenge, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of knowledge about malaria and its prevention methods, negative attitude towards the use of intervention methods, and problems with intervention access to high malaria-endemic regions identified as a challenge in many study communities. Besides shape preferences and the limitations to protect malaria outdoors is the other problem cited with the intervention approach regarding the program. Generally, it is recommended policymakers, and health planners think extra efforts with the existing strategy that fosters different vector habitats in different communities at various sites. Also, the study calls for further research on the role of other factors in fighting malaria, such as knowledge of malaria, household income, and education, which are not yet considers in prior research. Hence, for any infectious disease prevention and control to succeed in the development of the policy from the early stage hood is unquestionable.