The work describes a project that determined stated and actual willingness to contribute money for insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to be purchased for the poor. Contingent valuation was used to determine the stated altruistic willingness to pay (WTP) of 801 randomly selected respondents in three malaria villages of Nigeria. The stated WTP of the respondents for their own nets was also determined. Within one month of the survey, ITNs were offered for sale to the respondents and they were also requested to redeem their altruistic WTP pledges. The village leaders nominated the poor people to benefit. 425 (53%) of the 801 respondents stated positive altruistic WTP. However, only 484 respondents were available for determination of actual WTP. Of this number, only 79 (30%) of the 266 that were hypothetically willing to contribute actually contributed. 5 people who were hypothetically unwilling to pay, contributed. The major reasons for unwillingness to pay was lack of money or that they would pay later. The money realised was used to buy some nets, which the community leaders, accompanied by project team members presented to the selected poor people. The policy implications are: (1)The potential for well-to-do people to contribute for the poor in their communities to benefit from ITNs exist; and (2) Malaria control programmes should explore intra-community subsidization as an additional strategy to increase net coverage. It is recommended that future studies should increase the time people are given to redeem their altruistic WTP pledges.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participants in this session will be able to: 1. Describe the use of the contingent valuation technique in malaria control in sub-saharan Africa. 2. Learn of its application in raising money from within malaria-endemic communities to buy insecticide-treated nets for the poor.
Keywords: Community Involvement, Community-Based Partnership
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.