Malaria Household Knowledge and Behavior in Equatorial Guinea: Lessons to Be Learned

Abstract

Equatorial Guinea is a small country located in the Gulf of Guinea and consisting of an insular region and a mainland region. The whole country is categorized as a malaria high transmission area, with more than 1 case per 1000 population, and more than 80% of the cases due to P. falciparum [1]. Nowadays malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children under five years of age, regardless of the control efforts made since late 1990 [2]. In the African continent, the increasing efforts and investments in malaria have contributed to a substantial decrease in the incidence of clinical cases although the disease remains a major public health problem in the Sub-Saharan region [1]. The WHO world malaria report 2014 estimated that 198 million cases of malaria and around 600,000 deaths occurred globally, with Africa accounting for 90% of the deaths. Furthermore, and despite the progress, malaria remains a major killer of children, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where it takes the life of a child every 2 minutes [3]. Over the last 20 years, a set of interventions have been put in placein Equatorial Guinea with a geographic imbalance and Bioko Island, the largest island of the insular region, has capitalized most of them. During the 1990 decade several strategies were implemented, although with limited scope and primarily targeting Bioko rural populations [4- 7]. In 2004, a large-scale control programme, the Bioko Island Malaria Control Programme (BIMCP), was launched with the major goal of achieving the elimination of malaria transmission in the island [8–11].