Malaria

While malaria cases worldwide have dropped dramatically in the 21st century, more than 400,000 still die each year of malaria — most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa.

At CCP, our goal is to support behavior change that helps lead to the elimination and ultimately the eradication of malaria.

One critical way to get there is to get more people to sleep under insecticide-treated bed nets. We work not only to get nets into the hands of those who need them, but to identify and overcome barriers to using one every night. We also work with communities to improve testing and ensure that only those with a diagnosis receive medications, a step toward reducing resistance to malaria treatments. We study what behaviors keep certain communities from eliminating malaria altogether – and design activities and messages to bring them closer to that goal. We are also looking for new ways to prevent malaria when people aren’t asleep under their nets and might still be exposed to mosquitoes carrying the disease. We bring together information on human behavior, mosquito behavior, and patterns of disease transmission to target interventions when and where they’re needed.  

And we are constantly thinking about how to create lasting change. We have established sustainable commercial markets for bed nets, and developed technological solutions to track the distribution of nets while leveraging partnerships with governments, private sector companies and other NGOs to amplify our impact. 

Challenge

Insecticide-treated bed nets have dramatically reduced the number of deaths from malaria over the past two decades. But how do you stop people from being bitten by infected mosquitoes when they aren’t in bed?

Working with the University of Notre Dame, CCP is helping test a mosquito repellent that would hang on the wall inside the house and emit a chemical designed to kill the insects without harming humans. Researchers will determine whether the new product not only prevents bites but also prevents malaria.