Individuals’ Preventive Behavioral Response to Changes in Malaria Risks and Government Interventions: Evidence from six African countries

This paper analyzes the importance of malaria prevalence, malaria ecology, and indoor residual spraying on the probability of sleeping under an insecticide-treated net (ITN) in six African countries. Using individual data on ITN usage combined with the malaria prevalence and ecology data for the area where the person lives, we show that malaria prevalence and ecology have positive effects on ITN usage. However, ITN usage is inelastic with respect to malaria prevalence, with elasticity of 0.181 for children under 5 and of 0.223 for adult women. We also find that indoor residual spraying does not crowd out ITN usage.