Abstract: Globally, malaria infections result in 500,000 deaths and 300 million illnesses each year. Although malaria control programs have attempted to implement interventions to reduce malaria prevalence, these strategies are often hampered by social, cultural, and logistical barriers at the community level. In order to gain a clearer understanding of the prevalence of nine key barriers, this paper systematically reviewed 50 studies that have investigated these nine barriers to malaria control in rural African communities. By thoroughly reviewing each study’s results for the presence of these barriers, the overall prevalence of each barrier across all 50 studies was determined. The most common barriers were the use of herbal or traditional treatment or prevention methods (68% of studies), the belief in non-mosquito etiology (50% of studies), and limited knowledge of the symptoms of severe malaria (46% of studies). In light of these findings, it is recommended that health policy leaders expand health education programs in rural communities, reduce costs of antimalarial products to the extent possible, and promote research on novel herbal treatments for malaria. Additionally, since this review focuses exclusively on rural African settings, additional systematic analyses should be conducted in other geographical settings, such as Southeast Asia and Central America, to gain a better understanding of the sociocultural and logistical barriers to malaria control that exist globally.
Keywords: Malaria, Barriers to Malaria Control, Rural African Communities, Health Policy.
Title: A Systematic Assessment of Barriers to Successful Malaria Control in Rural African Communities: Implications for Public Health Policy
Author: Rohan Garg
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
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