Willingness to pay for a mosquito bite prevention 'forest pack' in Cambodia: results of a discrete choice experiment
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AC-DC Electropenetrography for the Study of Probing and Ingestion Behaviors of Culex tarsalis Mosquitoes on Human Hands
Published on: November 29, 2024
Joshua Yukich1, Dyna Doum2, David J McIver3
1Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, USA.
Background:
Progress towards malaria elimination in the Greater Mekong Subregion has left much of the residual malaria transmission concentrated among forest-exposed populations for whom traditional domicile focused malaria vector control is unlikely to be effective. New tools to protect these populations from vector biting outdoors are needed.
Methods:
Alongside implementation research on the deployment of a "forest pack" consisting of a volatile pyrethroid (transfluthrin)-based spatial repellent (VPSR), a picaridin-based topical repellent and etofenprox treatment of clothing, an assessment was made of participant willingness to pay for the forest packs and variants of the packs using a discrete choice experiment.
Results:
Participants showed willingness to pay for forest packs consistent with full-cost recovery for VPSR devices. The inclusion of a full malaria season's worth of VPSR devices increased the willingness to pay for a forest pack by 15% (p = 0.061). At a price of approximately 10 USD, approximately 50% of participants were willing to pay for a forest pack which included a full season's worth of VPSR.
Conclusion:
Forest packs which include VPSR are likely to be acceptable to the target forest-exposed populations, and those which include VPSR products may even have potential for commercial sales or some cost-recovery.
