Household survey

A steering committee including key malaria stakeholders in the country and partners was set up to guide the household assessment. The protocol for the study was shared, reviewed, and approved prior to the training on the appropriate data collection procedures for the field investigators. A data collection tool was developed and integrated into tablets using the Open Data Kit (ODK) system. Household structures and other environmental factors, sleeping behaviors, and existing household vector control practices were the main characteristics considered in the questionnaire developed for the survey (Table ​(Table11).

Summary of indicators for household survey

Number of household members

Number of children < 5

Number of pregnant women

Number of eligible structures

Type of roof and wall building materials

Number of windows and doors

Presence of curtains

Location (inside and/or outside)

Number/type of beds (mats, other types of supports)

Outdoor sleeping frequency/times

Number of people per sleeping space

Reasons for sleeping outside

Type of vector control practices

Number/type of hanging nets

Number of people sleeping under a net (pregnant women/children < 5)

Five investigators were recruited in each city and trained for data collection using a questionnaire-based digital form and tablets and supervised by the district health director. The investigators were recruited within each community of residents and spoke each city’s local language. Two hundred households were randomly sampled using a systematic random sampling approach in the catchment area of each of the two selected health posts per city, for a total of 1200 households across the three cities. Within each household, data were collected from either the head of household or any available adult member living in the surveyed household in the absence of the head of household. Each data collector was assigned to visit 20 households per day. Specific data collection was conducted in Koranic teaching schools, called Daaras in Senegal, hosting children between the age of 5 and 15 years. The Koranic teacher was the respondent at each of the schools surveyed. At least five Daaras from each area were selected by the health nurse, and each Daara was considered a household.

A subsample of 100 households from each health post catchment area included in the survey were selected to participate in the knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) survey on malaria transmission factors and vector control tools and interventions, for a total of 600 households across the three cities.