COST OF INDOOR RESIDUAL SPRAYING IN THE OBUASI MUNICIPALITY

ABSTRACT 

Background 

World Health Organisation Global malaria programme recommends three primary interventions that must be scaled up in countries to effectively respond to malaria control and management towards achieving the millennium development goals for malaria by 2015 and one of these is Indoor Residual Spraying. The Indoor Residual Spraying programme was started in the Obuasi Municipality in 2006 by the AngloGold Ashanti Mining Company as a measure to reduce the expenditure incurred in the treatment of malaria among its employees thus reducing the lost days of work to the company due to the disease. Hence, this study seeks to establish the total cost of the intervention and the gains made by it.  

Methods 

The indoor residual spraying in the Obuasi Municipality was an intervention introduced by the AngloGold Ashanti Mining Company to reduce the prevalence of malaria within its operational area. The programme covered 53 communities in the municipality consisting 139,000 structures which included dwellings, schools, hospitals and churches. This study employed the ingredients approach to costing unit costs for both recurrent and capital items used in the IRS programme using detailed retrospective cost data and effectiveness indicators. 

Result 

The total financial cost of the programme in the Obuasi Municipality was US$ 1,689,090.07 (GHȻ 1,553,962.86) and US$1,703,008.52 (GHȻ 1,566,767.84) was the total economic cost. The programme covered 35000 structures in the municipality of which 27,000 were human dwellings covering a population 134000. The financial cost per structure was US$ 12.61 (GHȻ 11.70) and US$ 12.71(GHȻ 11.60) for economic cost. The programme reduced the proportion of malaria cases reporting at the health facility by 50% and reduced average costs of malaria medication by US$ 5.48 (GHȻ 5.04) per person protected, saving over 40% on malaria medication. The main driving forces behind IRS intervention were three fold: the structures, insecticide and personnel emoluments.  

Conclusion   

The average cost of US$ 12.71 (GHȻ 11.69) per structure sprayed led to 50% reduction in malaria cases and 40% savings on malaria medication. Financial and political commitment to indoor residual spraying programmes would reduce malaria cases and increase productivity in workforce.