Research

Ghana, May 2022

Starting in May 2022, Arceate Health Innovation will be traveling to Konongo, Ghana, and delivering 1500 mosquito nets and 1000 mosquito net repair kits to three different communities and quantifying the impact our repair kit has on mosquito net lifespan and malaria prevalence.

Distribute 1500 Brand-New Mosquito Nets

We will deliver 1500 nets across Konongo, Ghana, splitting the population into three groups: Control, Net+Kit, and Net+Kit+Education.

Distribute 1000 Mosquito Net Repair Kits

We will deliver 500 mosquito net repair kits each to the Net+Kit and the Net+Kit+Education groups.

Educate Communities

Individuals in the education group will be educated about the importance and procedures of net care and repair.

Quantify Mosquito Net Lifespan Increase

Our first and primary goal is to quantify the mosquito net lifespan difference between the different groups.

Quantify Overall Net Usage Rates

Our second goal is to see if people are more likely to sleep under their net if it is distributed with our kit.

Visualize Malaria Trends

The third primary goal is to visualize the malaria trends before and after the distribution of our kits.

Ghana, December 2022

In December 2022, Arceate Health Innovation conducted 60 in-depth interviews with community members in Konongo, Ghana in order to better qualitatively understand mosquito net repair and maintenance habits.

Identify Net Usage Trends

The primary reason for not sleeping under a mosquito net was the type of net the user had. Polyester was preferred 98% of the time over polyethelene.

Lack of Repair Messaging

Only 13% of people had ever heard messaging related to net repair.

Identify Repair Impediments

The following net repair inhibitors were mentioned by 38% of families: lack of repair materials, lack of knowledge on how to repair and not knowing repairing torn nets is an effective option.

Evaluate Net Damage

We calculated the proportional hole index of torn mosquito nets to evaluate the extent of the damage, finding that 40% of nets were damaged with the average age being less than 7 months.

Evaluate Repair Methods

Only 9% of people attempted repairs on their damaged nets even though 92% believed repairing prevents malaria. Ultimately, 94% asked for our mosquito net repair kit.

Initialize Malaria Trends

We found that nearly every home had faced malaria in the last 6 months.

"I will consider repairing my torn net if I have the materials to do so as well as instructions on how to do it."

"I would throw [my damaged net] away. Since you gave us some, you have never added this[repair kit] to it before; if you added it to it and it gets torn, we would sew it."

If you sew it and you sew it well, the mosquito cannot get in to bite you; but if you do not do it well, they will get in to bite you for you to fall sick.

Uganda, June 2021

In June 2021, Arceate Health Innovation delivered 1000 kits across Mukono, Uganda to gauge community interest and find initial usage rates. Here is what we found.

Overall Net Damage Rates

Over 40 percent of nets were damaged, with the average age being 9.2 months.

Repairing Was Not Prevalent

90% of people had never attempted repairs in the past.

Nets Being Disposed

The primary motivation for discarding a net was the perception that it was too torn.

Widespread Community Acceptance

97% committed to using our kit when their net gets damaged, with 64% using it within 6 months.

Our Education Works

There was a 40% increase in the perceived level of importance regarding net repairs.

Long Lasting Solution

Their repairs are lasted over 12 months - and counting!