Who Uses Insecticide-Treated Mosquito Nets?
This paper examines household ownership and use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs), based on data from six Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and one Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) conducted in sub-Saharan Africa from 2004-06. The paper has a particular focus on children under age five and pregnant women in households that own at least one ITN. Overall, there is considerable variation in the ownership and use of ITNs among these groups, while there are several striking common findings across groups. There is no country in the study where more than half of households own an ITN, but even in households that own an ITN, members of the household do not necessarily use them. In five of the seven countries, in households that own an ITN the majority of children under age five (50-69 percent) and pregnant women (56-81 percent) use an ITN. In all countries, two variables—the number of ITNs in a household and the size of the household population—predict the use of ITNs. ITN use incre
