Objective: To examine the household possession and willingness to pay for the retreatment of ITNs with insecticides among local residences in a malaria endemic area of Ethiopia.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2008 and December 2008 using a pre-tested questionnaire in Azendabo town, Ethiopia. 246 household members were interviewed on the household possession and willingness to pay for the retreatment of ITNs with insecticides.
Results: Over all, 96.3% of the respondents had awareness about ITNs. 90.2% had heard about ITNs retreatment with insecticides. However, merely 53.2% of the respondents were willing to pay for ITNs retreatment. Chi-square results revealed a strong association between respondents average monthly income and number of ITNs possessed per household (chi2 = 29.53; p = 0.005; df = 9). Similarly, the association between educational status and frequency of ITNs utilization was statistically significant (chi2 = 13.99; p = 0.029; df = 6). In addition, the chi-square results shows close association between respondents economic status and willingness to pay for ITNs retreatment (chi2 = 12.16; p = 0.006; df = 3).
Conclusion: Indeed, ITNs are one of the most powerful weapons in the fight against vector-borne diseases particularly malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. The efficiency of ITNs can be enhanced substantially by means of retreatment with insecticides. However, the present study results suggest that nearly half of the respondents were not willing to pay for ITNs retreatment due to lack of their affordability. Therefore, insecticide retreatment campaign should be initiated at free of cost at least yearly once in order to reduce the unbearable burden of malaria.