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Article

Collateral Effects of Insecticide-Treated Nets on Human and Environmental Safety in an Epidemiological Model for Malaria with Human Risk Perception

by
Juan Pablo Gutiérrez-Jara
1,*,†,
Katia Vogt-Geisse
2,*,† and
Maritza Cabrera
1
1
Centro de Investigación de Estudios Avanzados del Maule (CIEAM), Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Postgrado, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca 3480112, Chile
2
Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago 7941169, Chile
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(23), 16327; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316327
Submission received: 18 October 2022 / Revised: 24 November 2022 / Accepted: 29 November 2022 / Published: 6 December 2022

Abstract

Malaria remains a major health problem in many parts of the world, including Sub-Saharan Africa. Insecticide-treated nets, in combination with other control measures, have been effective in reducing malaria incidence over the past two decades. Nevertheless, there are concerns about improper handling and misuse of nets, producing possible health effects from intoxication and collateral environmental damage. The latter is caused, for instance, from artisanal fishing. We formulate a model of impulsive differential equations to describe the interplay between malaria dynamics, human intoxication, and ecosystem damage; affected by human awareness to these risks and levels of net usage. Our results show that an increase in mosquito net coverage reduces malaria prevalence and increases human intoxications. In addition, a high net coverage significantly reduces the risk perception to disease, naturally increases the awareness for intoxications from net handling, and scarcely increases the risk perception to collateral damage from net fishing. According to our model, campaigns aiming at reducing disease prevalence or intoxications are much more successful than those creating awareness to ecosystem damage. Furthermore, we can observe from our results that introducing closed fishing periods reduces environmental damage more significantly than strategies directed towards increasing the risk perception for net fishing.
Keywords: mathematical epidemiology; malaria; insecticide-treated nets; insecticide exposure; risk perception; ecosystem damage; mosquito net fishing; impulsive differential equations mathematical epidemiology; malaria; insecticide-treated nets; insecticide exposure; risk perception; ecosystem damage; mosquito net fishing; impulsive differential equations

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MDPI and ACS Style

Gutiérrez-Jara, J.P.; Vogt-Geisse, K.; Cabrera, M. Collateral Effects of Insecticide-Treated Nets on Human and Environmental Safety in an Epidemiological Model for Malaria with Human Risk Perception. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 16327. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316327

AMA Style

Gutiérrez-Jara JP, Vogt-Geisse K, Cabrera M. Collateral Effects of Insecticide-Treated Nets on Human and Environmental Safety in an Epidemiological Model for Malaria with Human Risk Perception. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(23):16327. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316327

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gutiérrez-Jara, Juan Pablo, Katia Vogt-Geisse, and Maritza Cabrera. 2022. "Collateral Effects of Insecticide-Treated Nets on Human and Environmental Safety in an Epidemiological Model for Malaria with Human Risk Perception" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 23: 16327. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316327

APA Style

Gutiérrez-Jara, J. P., Vogt-Geisse, K., & Cabrera, M. (2022). Collateral Effects of Insecticide-Treated Nets on Human and Environmental Safety in an Epidemiological Model for Malaria with Human Risk Perception. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(23), 16327. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316327

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