Brazil
Infrastructure
A mosquito repellent balm to contribute to malaria prevention efforts in Burkina Faso
- Completed project
MAÏA® is a locally-developed mosquito-repellent ointment in the precertification phase of the World Health Organization, created by the social company MAÏA Africa SAS, based in Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. Innovations for Poverty Action is conducting an impact evaluation to assess the willingness to pay for the ointment in order to ascertain demand and appropriate level of subsidy to maximize use, and to measure significant effects of the MAÏA® ointment on health.
Project deployed by:
Context
In Sub-Saharan Africa, malaria is one of the deadliest diseases, affecting mainly children and pregnant women, with consequences on both mother and child. In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region accounted for 94% of malaria deaths among which 67% were children under 5 years old (World Malaria Report, 2019).
After years of decline, the number of malaria cases more than doubled between 2010 and 2019, reaching 65.6 million cases in West Africa (World Malaria Report, 2020). Besides its health burden, the economic impact of malaria is estimated to cost Africa $12 billion every year (J L Gallup and al, 2001).
Insecticide-treated nets are regarded as the most effective means to control mosquitoes transmitting the malaria parasite. However, studies show that a growing share of mosquitoes resist insecticides (Patrick Ojuka and al, 2015; TL Russel and al, 2011). The distribution of insecticide treated nets alone is not enough anymore; the World Health Organization has indicated that complementary tools are needed for protection of people from malaria.
Innovation
MAÏA® is a locally-developed mosquito-repellent ointment that complements insecticide-treated nets by leveraging existing norms involving use of lotion in the precertification phase of the World Health Organization. Led by Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) with Paris Dauphine-PSL University and Burkinabè Research Institute of Health Sciences (IRRS), the proposed study aims to measure the effects:
- of MAÏA® mosquito-repellent ointment on health and labour outcomes;
- of prices on the adoption of MAÏA® mosquito-repellent ointment, measured by both purchase and use.
FID’s funding will allow MAIA Africa SAS to produce the quantities of ointment necessary for the study, partners to subsidize the ointment for the households engaged in the study, and IPA to conduct the impact evaluation. IPA will rely on survey data collected from 3,000 households where there is at least one child aged 0-3 and living next to a selling point.
Achieved results and lessons learned
The randomized evaluation was conducted in 195 points of sale across 4 regions, 6 provinces, and 24 municipalities, among 3,120 households with at least one young child. Households were randomly assigned to three treatment groups, based on the subsidy applied to the price of MAÏA® (free, 50% subsidized, and full price).
The results have shown strong and increasing product take-up: reported use of MAÏA® in the last 30 days increased from 57% one month after launch to 73% at the end of the rainy season.
This pricing had a significant impact: households that were given the product for free used the ointment three times more than those paying full price, and the group that received a 50% subsidy used it twice as much. In addition, free access to the product did not lead to waste, as close to 90% of households that were given MAÏA® for free actually used it, compared to 70–75% among the other groups.
The study confirmed that MAÏA® can be used in combination with treated mosquito nets: 75% of households continued to use them during the project, and close to 10% still used conventional mosquito nets, irrespective of the group. However, the use of mosquito-repellent coils and spirals decreased, with households gradually replacing these solutions with the ointment. The ointment was primarily used on vulnerable people in the household, with priority given to children in households where financial constraints were an issue.
Finally, the results of this evaluation were promising in terms of long-term use: one year after the trial had ended, 60% of households that were given MAÏA® for free continued to use the product, compared to just over 20% in the groups paying full price or with a 50% subsidy. These results suggest that an initial subsidization period could promote long-term take-up and thus create ongoing demand.
Projects
Projects funded by FID
