Malaria is a life threatening disease, entirely preventable and treatable,
provided the currently recommended interventions are properly implemented.
These interventions include vector control through the use of
insecticide-treated nets (ITNs). However, ITN possession does not necessarily
translate into use. Human behavior change interventions, including information,
education, communication (IEC) campaigns and post-distribution hang-up
campaigns are strongly recommended. In this paper we consider a recent
mathematical model for the effects of ITNs on the transmission dynamics of
malaria infection, which takes into account the human behavior. We introduce in
this model a supervision control, representing IEC campaigns for improving the
ITN usage. We propose and solve an optimal control problem where the aim is to
minimize the number of infectious humans while keeping the cost low. Numerical
results are provided, which show the effectiveness of the optimal control
interventions.Comment: This is a preprint of a paper whose final and definite form will
appear in Conference Papers in Mathematics, Volume 2013, Article ID 658468,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/658468. Paper Submitted 10-May-2013; accepted
after minor revision 09-June-201
