Liberia

The malaria control project in Monrovia constituted the first large-scale use of synthetic insecticide to combat malaria in tropical Africa, and the WHO pilot project in Central Province was one of a first cluster of projects initiated to explore the efficacy of IRS in a variety of African ecological zones.

An outbreak investigation showed that only 19 (45%) used insect repellent, 5 (12%) used permethrin-treated clothing, and none used bed netting. Adherence with weekly mefloquine (MQ) was reported by 23 (55%). However, only 4 (10%) had serum MQ levels high enough to correlate with protection (> 794 ng/mL), and 9 (22%) had evidence of steady-state kinetics (MQ carboxy metabolite/MQ > 3.79).

Interceptor LLINs are effective and desirable in rural communities in Liberia. Consideration for end user preferences should be incorporated into product development of all LLINs in the future, in order to achieve optimum retention and utilization.