The impact of stopping and starting indoor residual spraying on malaria burden in Uganda
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nature communications
Abstract
The scale-up of malaria control efforts has led to marked reductions in malaria burden over
the past twenty years, but progress has slowed. Implementation of indoor residual spraying
(IRS) of insecticide, a proven vector control intervention, has been limited and difficult
to sustain partly because questions remain on its added impact over widely accepted
interventions such as bed nets. Using data from 14 enhanced surveillance health facilities in
Uganda, a country with high bed net coverage yet high malaria burden, we estimate the
impact of starting and stopping IRS on changes in malaria incidence. We show that stopping
IRS was associated with a 5-fold increase in malaria incidence within 10 months, but reinstating
IRS was associated with an over 5-fold decrease within 8 months. In areas where IRS
was initiated and sustained, malaria incidence dropped by 85% after year 4. IRS could play a
critical role in achieving global malaria targets, particularly in areas where progress has
stalled.
Description
Keywords
Residual spraying, Malaria, Uganda
Citation
Namuganga, J. F., Epstein, A., Nankabirwa, J. I., Mpimbaza, A., Kiggundu, M., Sserwanga, A., ... & Rodriguez-Barraquer, I. (2021). The impact of stopping and starting indoor residual spraying on malaria burden in Uganda. Nature communications, 12(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22896-5