What Matters (and What Does Not) in Households' Decision to Invest in Malaria Prevention?

The article discusses the use of a malaria-control device by rural households in Kenya and also tests whether or not the demand for the device differs with the marketing messages and with the gender of the person that is targeted by the marketing. The effects on the use of a preventative health product of two interventions based on psychological behavioral models by changing the framing of the perceived benefits and by having people verbally commit to purchase the product. It was found that demand for malaria-preventing bed nets is sensitive to price but not to other things that were tested. The gender of the person targeted by the marketing had no effect and neither did the verbal commitment to purchase the nets.