Abstract
BACKGROUND: Outdoor devices for luring and killing disease-transmitting mosquitoes have been proposed as potential complementary interventions alongside existing intra-domiciliary methods namely insecticide treated nets and house spraying with residual insecticides. To enhance effectiveness of such outdoor interventions, it is essential to optimally locate them in such a way that they target most of the outdoor mosquitoes. METHODS: Using odour-baited lure and kill stations (OBS) as an example, we describe a map model derived from: 1) community participatory mapping conducted to identify mosquito breeding habitats, 2) entomological field studies conducted to estimate outdoor mosquito densities and to determine safe distances of the OBS from human dwellings, and 3) field surveys conducted to map households, roads, outdoor human aggregations and landmarks. The resulting data were combined in a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) environment and analysed to determine optimal locations for the OBS. Separately, a GIS-interpolated map produced by asking community members to rank different zones of the study area and show where they expected to find most mosquitoes, was visually compared to another map interpolated from the entomological survey of outdoor mosquito densities. RESULTS: An easy-to-interpret suitability map showing optimal sites for placing OBS was produced, which clearly depicted areas least suitable and areas most suitable for locating the devices. Comparative visual interpretation of maps derived from interpolating the community knowledge and entomological data revealed major similarities between the two maps. CONCLUSION: Using distribution patterns of human and mosquito populations as well as characteristics of candidate outdoor interventions, it is possible to readily determine suitable areas for targeted positioning of the interventions, thus improve effectiveness. This study also highlights possibilities of relying on community knowledge to approximate areas where mosquitoes are most abundant and where to locate outdoor complementary interventions such as odour-baited lure and kill stations for controlling disease-transmitting mosquitoes.