Mosquito Net Ownership, Access, and Use: Using SBC to Bridge Gaps

The use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) is one of the main interventions to prevent malaria and high ITN use rates are a central goal of malaria programs. The four standard indicators to assess outcomes have assessed the percentage of:

1. Households owning at least one ITN
2. Population with access to an ITN within their household
3. Households owning at least one ITN for every two people
4. Population that used an ITN the previous night

It is common for countries to find a gap between the ownership of at least one ITN and the percentage of people who used an ITN the previous night. Program planners often refer to this “net use gap” when examining the standard indicators of household ITN ownership and population ITN use.

This Mosquito Net Ownership, Access, and Use: Using SBC to Bridge the Gaps Trending Topic provides journal articles and presentations explaining the ITN use:access ratio and provides social and behavior change tools and project examples relating to net distribution and net use.