Indoor Residual Spraying

Situation:

Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) is easily applicable, standardised and well-established as a control method for mosquitoes. IRS increases the risks for a mosquito each time it enters a house for a blood meal, which it typically does every 2-3 days, so that few will survive the approximately 12 days that are required for malaria parasites to complete part of their life cycle in the vector mosquito. In practice, the effectiveness of IRS depends on high quality and high coverage which are in turn dependant on public acceptance of spraying, the availability of well-maintained equipment, adequately trained spraying personnel, efficient supervision and strong financial support. The size of the operational area depends on local circumstances and is influenced by the distribution of malaria and malaria vectors, the distance from important breeding sites, the flight range of the vectors and demographic features.

The profile of indoor residual spraying as a control strategy has been raised in recent years through political commitment to this intervention. One of the key discussions is over the use of the longer-acting and cheaper DDT as opposed to the pyrethroid insecticides.

Response:

The Malaria Consortium has carried out IRS in northern Uganda, spraying institutions including schools and health facilities. We are also evaluating a new insecticide formulation, lambdacyhalothrin CS, by spraying buildings of different materials and evaluating the residual life over a 12 month period.

Please refer to IRS Syngenta

Photos: William Daniels