The Influence of Product Design Attributes on The Usage of Insecticide Treated Mosquito Nets in Kafue District, Zambia

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between colour, shape and size of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) and use. Methodology: This study used mixed methods research design. The research was conducted in Kafue district at Nangongwe and Kafue Mission Health Centre catchment areas. A simple random sampling approach was used to select 30 households (HHs) from a total of 300 HHs that had ITNs. Due to heavy rains, one HH was not reached hence sample size reduced to 29 HHs. Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data while Focus Group Discussions generated qualitative data. Multiple linear regression in excel was used to test the hypothesis. Findings: The current study indicates that maximum number of ITNs is between five and six per household. Majority of households have used ITNs for over ten years. Preference for white ITNs was high at 52%, rectangular nets 86.2% and double bed ITNs 100%. Hypothesis test using multiple linear regression indicate that 3.3% variation in use of ITNs is explained by colour, shape and size with a P-value of 0.85. Since this statistic is greater than alpha 0.05 at 95% confidence level there is strong evidence not to reject the null hypothesis and conclude that ITN attributes do not significantly influence use of ITNs.Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: This study demonstrated that limits to growth system theory can be used to understand weaknesses of health promotion strategies. In practice housing standards must be integrated in health education activities for malaria prevention as they have been identified to be a limiting factor affecting use of ITNs.