To successfully reduce reported cases of malaria, the project must gain access to at least 90 percent of homes in the targeted areas, which means obtaining support for the programme from residents
As part of an effort to help reduce the number of deaths caused by malaria in Africa, the U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAid) and RTI International have begun an ambitious programme to treat the homes of up to 600,000 people in southern Angola to repel or kill mosquitoes prior to the 2006 malaria transmission season.
Working in support of the Angola Ministry of Health and alongside Christian Children's Fund of Angola, RTI is conducting an indoor residual spraying campaign using the non-toxic chemical Icon in the southern cities of Lumbango in Huila province and Ondjiva in Cunene province.
As part of an initial programme, the homes of more than 18,000 people were treated to control malaria in the town of Humpata in December 2005 and early January.
"This is an important first step to protect children and their families where malaria is a serious killer," said Kent Hill, assistant administrator of USAid's global health bureau.
Malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Angola.
In 2004, Angola reported 3.2 million cases of malaria, two-thirds of which occurred in children under five years of age.
Close to 40,000 of those cases resulted in deaths.
To successfully reduce reported cases of malaria, the project must gain access to at least 90 percent of homes in the targeted areas, which means obtaining support for the programme from residents.
"This is an extremely ambitious and very necessary project to reduce the number of deaths from this infectious disease," said Gene Brantly, RTI project director.
"We will work closely with the Ministry of Health and local community leaders and organizations to ensure residents understand the need to support this effort prior to, during and after the actual spraying".
To ensure safety, residents must remove all food items, cooking pots and utensils before the house is sprayed, and they should not reenter their homes for several hours after spraying has been completed.
Household residents and community leaders will be informed about the preparatory and safety steps by local project staff members who have knowledge of local communities and cultures.
Throughout the project, residents also will receive more general health information designed to help them prevent malaria infection, recognise malaria symptoms and obtain effective drugs and treatment.
Programme officials hope to complete the spraying by March 2006, and plan to assess its effectiveness during the spring malaria transmission season.
They also will collect information on the experience, reactions and concerns of community residents where the indoor residual spraying operations were implemented so as to guide future malaria education programs and indoor residual spraying operations.
If successful, homes in the selected areas will be sprayed for mosquitoes twice annually.
The spraying project is one component of President Bush's Malaria Initiative, which aims to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in sub-Saharan African countries by 2010.
Angola is among the first countries chosen by the US administration to benefit from this initiative.
Indoor residual spraying is one of several methods being used to address the malaria problem in sub-Saharan Africa as part of the initiative.
Other interventions include insecticide-treated sleeping nets to help reduce exposure to malaria carrying mosquitoes, improving access to effective antimalarial drugs for people with malaria, and providing safe drugs that prevent malaria to pregnant women.
In each case, scientists and programme officials work with national and local health officials to identify the most appropriate methods to address the local problem, consistent with the current national malaria control programme, pesticide and drug regulations, and other concerns.
This project builds on RTI's other malaria-related work, including projects in Eritrea, Nepal and South Africa.
In the next several months, RTI will also initiate house-spraying programmes in Uganda and Zanzibar, as part of the President's Malaria Initiative programme in those countries.
The President's Malaria Initiative seeks to reduce by 50 percent the number of deaths caused by malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.
Each year, Malaria kills more than 1.2 million people worldwide and is estimated to account for a yearly economic loss of close to $12 billion.
As part of the initiative, the president pledged to increase US government funding of malaria prevention and treatment by $1.2 billion by 2010.
The project aims to reach more than 175 million people in 15 African countries and help those African national governments achieve 85 percent coverage of malaria intervention programmes among high-risk populations.
Technicians involved in the Angola indoor residential spraying programs are using the World Health Organisation (Who)-recommended and approved insecticide Icon, a 10 percent solution of the chemical lambda-cyhalothrin manufactured by Syngenta.
This chemical is registered by the US Environmental Protection Agency for general indoor and outdoor pest control.
An environmental health assessment was conducted before the programme began to confirm Icon's safety for technicians and household residents.
Spray teams and supervisors are trained according to Who guidelines and follow Who best practices during spray operations.
RTI also provides onsite supervision during all spray operations.
