Willingness to pay for a mosquito bite prevention ‘forest pack’ in Cambodia: results of a discrete choice experiment

Progress towards malaria elimination in the Greater Mekong Subregion has left much of the residual malaria transmission concentrated among forest-exposed populations for whom traditional domicile focused malaria vector control is unlikely to be effective. New tools to protect these populations from vector biting outdoors are needed.

Alongside implementation research on the deployment of a “forest pack” consisting of a volatile pyrethroid (transfluthrin)-based spatial repellent (VPSR), a picaridin-based topical repellent and etofenprox treatment of clothing, an assessment was made of participant willingness to pay for the forest packs and variants of the packs using a discrete choice experiment.

Participants showed willingness to pay for forest packs consistent with full-cost recovery for VPSR devices. The inclusion of a full malaria season’s worth of VPSR devices increased the willingness to pay for a forest pack by 15% (p = 0.061). At a price of approximately 10 USD, approximately 50% of participants were willing to pay for a forest pack which included a full season’s worth of VPSR.

Forest packs which include VPSR are likely to be acceptable to the target forest-exposed populations, and those which include VPSR products may even have potential for commercial sales or some cost-recovery.