Paper long abstract:

Background: Malaria control remains a challenge globally and in malaria-endemic countries in particular. Much efforts are required to control the disease, and engagement of citizens in malaria prevention and control interventions have been encouraged by the World Health Organization. There is however a lack of understanding of how citizens can be engaged and what could be the effect of that engagement on malaria control and elimination. With this background, a citizen science program has been set up to improve malaria control in Rwanda. Citizens are involved in collecting mosquito species and reporting mosquito nuisance. However, apart from reporting citizen science data, it is still unclear what people benefit from such a citizen science program. Therefore, we analysed how those directly involved in the program (here called volunteers) and those not involved (here called non-volunteers) benefited from such program.

Methods: This study employed a mixed-methods approach using dissemination workshops, a survey, and village meetings as the main data collection methods. Dissemination workshops and village meetings involved 112 volunteers of the citizen science program and were conducted to explore: 1) the benefits of being involved in the program and 2) different ways used to share malaria-related information to non-volunteers. The survey involved 328 people (110 volunteers and 218 non-volunteers) and was used to compare differences in malaria-related perceptions and behaviour over time ( between 2017 and 2019), as well as between volunteers and non-volunteers.

Results: Malaria-related perceptions and behaviour changed significantly over time (between 2017 and 2019). When the findings were compared between volunteers and non-volunteers, for perceptions, only perceived self-efficacy showed a significant difference between these two groups. However, it was apparent that volunteers interact with others and participate in malaria-related collective activities more than non-volunteers. Both volunteers and non-volunteers gained knowledge and skills about the use of malaria control measures in general and mosquito species in particular among volunteers.

Conclusion: The reported knowledge and skills among non-volunteers shows the diffusion of citizen science program-related information in the community. Consequently, this shows that a CSP has the potential to not only engage those who are directly involved in the collection and submission of citizen science data but also may result in collective action to improve community health.