Malaria education could reduce cases by over a fifth, study finds
A trial in Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire shows that teaching prevention strategies alongside the use of bed-nets reduced malaria cases as effectively as spraying homes with insecticides.
- 8 September 2025
- 3 min read
- by Linda Geddes
Education is often described as a powerful weapon. Now new research suggests its impact against malaria may be greater than expected.
A study in rural Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire found that pairing malaria education with the distribution of insecticide-treated bed-nets cut disease risk by as much as indoor insecticide spraying combined with nets.
Malaria is caused by a parasite that’s transmitted thorough the bites of infected mosquitoes. The use of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets has dramatically cut the annual number of malaria deaths, but progress has stalled in recent years, and while the roll-out of malaria vaccines is making a difference, further interventions could have a major impact.
What did the researchers do?
Nicolas Moiroux at the Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Dakar, Senegal, and colleagues wondered whether intensive ‘behaviour change communication’ – teaching people how to reduce their risk of mosquito bites and when to seek medical help – could help reduce the incidence of malaria among villagers with limited access to television and radio in rural Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, when combined with insecticide-treated nets.
The intervention was delivered by community health workers to 12 small villages in sparsely populated areas that were only accessible by four-wheel drive vehicle.
The health workers delivered group talks and visited people in their homes, encouraging them to sleep under a bed-net each night, and to keep their environments clean to reduce mosquito breeding opportunities.
Pregnant women were also encouraged to seek and take drugs to prevent malaria, while the caregivers of young children were told to seek healthcare within 24 hours if their child developed a fever.
Rates of malaria in these villages were compared to 16 villages that were only given insecticide-treated nets, plus a further 11 where bed-nets were combined with indoor insecticide spraying.
What did the study find?
The research, published in The Lancet Global Health, found that educating people about malaria prevention resulted in a 22% reduction in malaria cases in the following ten months, compared to bed-nets alone. This was similar to the impact of indoor insecticide spraying, which resulted in a 23% reduction in the number of malaria cases recorded by health centres.
“Although behaviour change communication programmes have previously been shown to have significant effects on malaria prevention behaviours, this study is the first to provide epidemiological evidence of their effectiveness,” the authors said.
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What are the implications of these findings?
Although further studies are needed to confirm the effectiveness of such interventions in different populations, they could offer a “promising addition” to current mosquito control strategies, said Dr Ellie Sherrard-Smith and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Dr Corine Nguforin at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK, in a related commentary.
“As funding landscapes shift, malaria control programmes and their implementing partners must diversify strategies to sustain progress against the disease,” they wrote.
Although insecticide-treated nets remain a cornerstone of malaria control, “[their] effectiveness in operational settings depends heavily on consistent and correct use at the household level,” Sherrard-Smith and Nguforin added.
“Behaviour change communication has a vital role… in enhancing intervention adherence and ensuring that the full protective benefit of insecticide-treated nets is achieved and sustained.
“Beyond its direct impact, [it also] fosters community engagement, builds trust, and encourages long-term participation in disease prevention efforts and could offer an opportunity to maintain and advance progress in malaria control while geopolitical instability continues to affect funding and supply chains.”
Further studies should examine the cost-effectiveness of communication-based interventions, compared to indoor insecticide spraying, they said.
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