Advancing Evidence for Global Implementation of Spatial Repellents – Social sciences component
John Hopkins Centre for Communications Program (CCP) and the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (JHSPH) are leading the social science portion of a five-year, $33.7 million grant from Unitaid. The project is designed to evaluate a slow-release spatial repellent, about the size of an envelope, that can be easily deployed in houses and temporary shelters to prevent mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue. Clinical trial in Sri Lanka. Clinical Research in Sri Lanka.
The project, Advancing Evidence for Global Implementation of Spatial Repellents, is being led by the University of Notre Dame and involves several international partners. The program includes randomized control trials (RCTs) for malaria in Kenya and Mali, an Aedes-borne virus RCT in Sri Lanka, and operational research among internally displaced populations in Uganda.
For spatial repellents to become successful at scale, donor organizations and vector-borne disease control program officials will need to see them as a valuable addition to current products. Additionally, end-users will need to consider spatial repellents both socially acceptable and effective, and implementers will need the appropriate channels to ensure sustained access.
The social science component of this project will investigate factors that could facilitate or inhibit the successful implementation of spatial repellents. Data will be gathered at the individual/household, retail, national, and global levels with the ultimate goal of providing programmatically useful data to guide recommendations for procurement, promotion, and distribution of spatial repellents. Findings will identify barriers and facilitators to access, initial uptake, and sustained use of spatial repellents.
CCP and JHSPH will carry out social science research across AEGIS study sites, as well as with national and global stakeholders. This research will provide valuable information on factors that could promote or inhibit the success of spatial repellents and help guide implementation at-scale.
CCP, JHSPH and the University of Notre Dame are implementing this project in Sri Lanka in partnership National Dengue Control Unit, Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka and RemediumOne.
Source:
1.Advancing Evidence for Global Implementation of Spatial Repellents – Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (jhu.edu)
2.Social Science Assessment | Our Approach | Advancing Evidence for the Global Implementation of Spatial Repellents | University of Notre Dame (nd.edu)
3.Sri Lanka | Trials | Our Approach | Advancing Evidence for the Global Implementation of Spatial Repellents | University of Notre Dame (nd.edu)