↓ Skip to main content

The effectiveness of a nationwide universal coverage campaign of insecticide-treated bed nets on childhood malaria in Malawi

Overview of attention for article published in Malaria Journal, October 2016
Altmetric Badge

Mentioned by

twitter
1 X user

Citations

dimensions_citation
9 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
102 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
The effectiveness of a nationwide universal coverage campaign of insecticide-treated bed nets on childhood malaria in Malawi
Published in
Malaria Journal, October 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12936-016-1550-9
Pubmed ID
Authors

Collins O. F. Zamawe, Kanan Nakamura, Akira Shibanuma, Masamine Jimba

Abstract

Although the universal coverage campaign of insecticide-treated mosquito bed nets (ITNs) has been associated with improved malaria outcomes, recent reports indicate that the campaign is losing its sparkle in some countries. In Malawi, the universal coverage campaign was implemented in 2012, but its impacts are yet to be ascertained. Thus, this study examined the effects of the campaign on malaria morbidity among children in Malawi. This is a repeated cross-sectional study. The study used nationally-representative malaria indicator survey (MIS) data collected in 2012 and 2014. In total, the analysis included 4193 children between the ages of 6 and 59 months (2171 from 2012 MIS and 2022 from 2014 MIS). ITNs coverage and malaria morbidity before (2012 = pre-test/control) and after (2014 = post-test/treated) the universal coverage campaign of ITNs were compared. The treated and control samples were matched on measured relevant covariates using propensity scores. The mean number of ITNs per household improved significantly from 1.1 (SD 1.0) in 2012 to 1.4 (SD 1.1) in 2014 (p < 0.001). Nonetheless, the prevalence of malaria among children increased considerably from 27.7 % (2012) to 32.0 % (2014) (p = 0.002). The risk of malaria was also significantly higher in 2014 compared to 2012 (RR = 1.14; 95 % CI 1.01-1.29). Besides, the use of bed nets was not significantly associated with malaria morbidity in 2014 (RR = 0.92; 95 % CI 0.76-1.12), but it was in 2012 (RR = 0.83; 95 % CI 0.70-1.00). The universal coverage campaign of ITNs was not associated with a reduced burden of malaria among children in Malawi. This was likely due to increased insecticide resistance, inconsistent use of bed nets and under-utilization of other methods of malaria control. This calls for a multifaceted approach in the fight against malaria instead of simple dependence on ITNs. In particular, local or community level malaria interventions should go hand in hand with the universal coverage campaign.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profile of 1 X user who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 102 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Malawi 1 <1%
Unknown 101 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 25 25%
Student > Ph. D. Student 13 13%
Student > Postgraduate 8 8%
Student > Bachelor 7 7%
Researcher 7 7%
Other 16 16%
Unknown 26 25%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 21 21%
Nursing and Health Professions 15 15%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 10 10%
Social Sciences 10 10%
Economics, Econometrics and Finance 4 4%
Other 11 11%
Unknown 31 30%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 February 2017.
All research outputs
#15,443,875
of 22,953,506 outputs
Outputs from Malaria Journal
#4,492
of 5,587 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#199,610
of 316,748 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Malaria Journal
#80
of 104 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,953,506 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 22nd percentile – i.e., 22% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,587 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.8. This one is in the 12th percentile – i.e., 12% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 316,748 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 28th percentile – i.e., 28% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 104 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 17th percentile – i.e., 17% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.