You will be provided with the titles and abstracts of a collection of medical RCT reports studying a clinical question -- for instance, the efficacy of an intervention on some medical outcome. Please write a few sentences synthesizing the findings of these reports, which could serve as a conclusion section for a systematic review article. Your response should not include any other text. The RCT reports are below.



Title 1:
Indoor residual spraying with alphacypermethrin controls malaria in Pakistan: a community-randomized trial.
Abstract 1:
We conducted a community-randomized controlled trial in Pakistan to determine the efficacy of indoor residual spraying with alphacypermethrin ('Fendona', Cyanamid, NJ, USA), applied at 25 mg/m2, to prevent falciparum and vivax malaria. Wettable powder (WP) and suspension concentrate (SC) formulations were tested against an unsprayed control in an irrigated rice-growing area of Sheikhupura district, Punjab province. The study area of 180 km2 was divided into nine sectors, which were assigned at random to control, WP, or SC treatments in replicates of 3. Sentinel villages were selected from each sector for entomological and disease monitoring. Malaria was monitored by fortnightly active case detection (ACD) and by cross- sectional parasite surveys on schoolchildren. Mosquito populations were monitored by space spraying of rooms and by cattle-landing catches. The spray campaign took place in June 1997 and covered 96% of compounds. During the 7 months after spraying, the incidence of falciparum malaria was 95% lower and that of vivax malaria 80% lower in WP-sprayed than unsprayed sectors. Similar results were obtained for sectors sprayed with the SC formulation. Cross-sectional surveys gave estimates of efficacy comparable to those obtained by ACD. Anopheles culicifacies was 80% less abundant and A.stephensi, the predominant anopheline, was up to 68% less abundant in sprayed areas over the 7-month period. Reductions in anopheline parous rates indicated that the single-spray treatment was effective for the entire transmission season. Sprayed surfaces lacked odour, which contributed to the popularity of the campaign. Alphacypermethrin is a promising insecticide for the control of malaria in Pakistan and South Asia generally.


Title 2:
Seven years of regional malaria control collaboration--Mozambique, South Africa, and Swaziland.
Abstract 2:
The Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative is a joint development program between the governments of Mozambique, Swaziland, and South Africa, which includes malaria control as a core component of the initiative. Vector control through indoor residual spraying (IRS) was incrementally introduced in southern Mozambique between November 2000 and February 2004. Surveillance to monitor its impact was conducted by annual cross-sectional surveys to assess the prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum infection, entomologic monitoring, and malaria case notification in neighboring South Africa and Swaziland. In southern Mozambique, there was a significant reduction in P. falciparum prevalence after the implementation of IRS, with an overall relative risk of 0.74 for each intervention year (P < 0.001), ranging from 0.66 after the first year to 0.93 after the fifth intervention year. Substantial reductions in notified malaria cases were reported in South Africa and Swaziland over the same period. The success of the program in reducing malaria transmission throughout the target area provides a strong argument for investment in regional malaria control.


Title 3:
Malaria control--two years' use of insecticide-treated bednets compared with insecticide house spraying in KwaZulu-Natal.
Abstract 3:
The objective of this study was to produce data indicating whether insecticide-treated bednets should replace insecticide house spraying as a malaria control method in South Africa. We report 2 years of preliminary data on malaria incidence comparing areas receiving insecticide-treated bednets and those subjected to house spraying in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
                In order to measure significant reductions in malaria incidence between the two interventions, a geographical information system (GIS) was used to identify and create seven pairs of geographical blocks (areas) in the malaria high-risk areas of Ndumu and Makanis in Ingwavuma magisterial district, KwaZulu-Natal. Individual blocks were then randomly allocated to either insecticide-treated bednets or house spraying with deltamethrin. Malaria cases were either routinely recorded by surveillance agents at home or were reported to the nearest health facility.
                The results show that 2 years' use of insecticide-treated bednets by communities in Ndumu and Makanis, KwaZulu-Natal, significantly reduced the malaria incidence both in 1997 (rate ratio (RR) = 0.879, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.80-0.95, P = 0.04) and in 1998 (RR = 0.667, CI 0.61-0.72, P = 0.0001). Using a t-test, these significant reductions were further confirmed by an assessment of the rate of change between 1996 and 1998, showing a 16% reduction in malaria incidence in blocks using treated bednets and an increase of 45% in sprayed areas (t = 2.534, P = 0.026 (12 df)). In order to decide whether bednets should replace house spraying in South Africa, we need more data on the efficacy of treated bednets, their long-term acceptability and the cost of the two interventions.


Title 4:
A comparison of use of a pyrethroid either for house spraying or for bednet treatment against malaria vectors.
Abstract 4:
In an intensely malarious area in north-east Tanzania, microencapsulated lambdacyhalothrin was used in four villages for treatment of bednets (provided free of charge) and in another four villages the same insecticide was used for house spraying. Another four villages received neither intervention until the end of the trial but were monitored as controls. Bioassays showed prolonged persistence of the insecticidal residues. Light traps and ELISA testing showed reduction of the malaria vector populations and the sporozoite rates, leading to a reduction of about 90% in the entomological inoculation rate as a result of each treatment. Collections of blood fed mosquitoes showed no diversion from biting humans to biting animals. Incidence of re-infection was measured by weekly monitoring of cohorts of 60 children per village, after clearing preexisting infection with chlorproguanil-dapsone. The vector control was associated with a reduction in probability of re-infection per child per week by 54-62%, with no significant difference between the two vector control methods. Cross-sectional surveys for fever, parasitaemia, haemoglobin and weight showed association of high parasitaemia with fever and anaemia and beneficial effects of each intervention in reducing anaemia. However, passive surveillance by resident health assistants showed no evidence for reduced prevalence of fever or parasitaemia. Net treatment consumed only about one sixth as much insecticide as house spraying and it was concluded that the former intervention would work out cheaper and nets were actively demanded by the villagers, whereas spraying was only passively assented to.
Historical and programme documentation has clearly established the impact of IRS. However, the number of high-quality trials are too few to quantify the size of effect in different transmission settings. The evidence from randomized comparisons of IRS versus no IRS confirms that IRS reduces malaria incidence in unstable malaria settings, but randomized trial data from stable malaria settings is very limited. Some limited data suggest that ITN give better protection than IRS in unstable areas, but more trials are needed to compare the effects of ITNs with IRS, as well as to quantify their combined effects. Ideally future trials should try and evaluate the effect of IRS in areas with no previous history of malaria control activities.