Rapid increase in ownership and use of long-lasting insecticidal nets and decrease in prevalence of malaria in three regional states of Ethiopia (2006-2007)

Following recent large scale-up of malaria control interventions in Ethiopia, this study aimed to compare ownership and use of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN), and the change in malaria prevalence using two population-based household surveys in three regions of the country. Each survey used multistage cluster random sampling with 25 households per cluster. Household net ownership tripled from 19.6 in 2006 to 68.4 in 2007, with mean LLIN per household increasing from 0.3 to 1.2. Net use overall more than doubled from 15.3 to 34.5, but in households owning LLIN, use declined from 71.7 to 48.3. Parasitemia declined from 4.1 to 0.4. Large scale-up of net ownership over a short period of time was possible. However, a large increase in net ownership was not necessarily mirrored directly by increased net use. Better targeting of nets to malaria-risk areas and sustained behavioural change communication are needed to increase and maintain net use. Copyright © 2010 Estifanos Biru Shargie et al.