Social and Behavior Change Guidance for Anopheles Stephensi in Africa

"Keeping communities informed about emerging or potential threats is important for building and maintaining trust in the malaria response and creates a foundation for mitigating potential rumors."

In recent years, researchers in Africa have identified the presence of Anopheles stephensi (hereafter, An. stephensi), a dominant malaria vector in south Asia and Arabian Peninsula that has the potential to threaten malaria control and elimination efforts. Social and behaviour change (SBC) will play a critical role in the response to this growing threat. This document provides evidence-based guidance on individual-, household-, and community-level behaviours for potential support of An. stephensi mitigation and control interventions in Africa.

The document includes SBC guidance for promoting core malaria interventions, including insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), indoor residual spraying (IRS), and care-seeking for fever, which are already included in SBC strategies across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This document provides considerations for their promotion in areas where An. stephensi has been identified or where there is a high risk of invasion.

Ideally, the information shared in this resource can be incorporated into SBC aspects of malaria strategies and ongoing programme activities. To ensure SBC is tailored effectively, this guidance should be paired with local data, such as: priority audiences for targeted SBC messages, including higher risk and mobile populations where applicable, and setting-specific psychosocial and contextual factors that influence behaviours of interest.

Cross-cutting considerations for SBC strategies to address malaria transmitted by An. stephensi include:

• Ensure target behaviours are feasible in terms of time, skills, and resources.
• Ensure SBC approaches meet the needs of intended population(s) by considering: levels of literacy; local languages and cultural appropriateness; appropriate channels, including informal communication channels, to reach higher-risk and mobile populations, e.g., construction workers, miners, agricultural workers, and daily or seasonal workers, as well as those who frequently move between rural to peri-urban and urban areas.
• Identify and engage contextually relevant community leaders and community-based civil society organisations (e.g., religious leaders, faith-based organisations, trade unions, rotary groups, scout groups, and others) early in the process.
• Promote inter-sectoral collaborations such as municipal, transportation/commerce, education, and employer-based programmes to increase engagement and promote priority behaviours.
• Promote collaborations across malaria partners for a comprehensive malaria response (e.g., service delivery, SBC, vector control).
• Tailor SBC activities and message framing to communicate in accordance with the level of An. stephensi risk.

This document was developed under the Breakthrough ACTION project by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative (PMI).