PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Catiane Vander Kelen AU - Alain Mpanya AU - Epco Hasker AU - Erick Miaka AU - Ruth Nzuzi AU - Steve Torr AU - Dennis Perez AU - Justin Pulford TI - ‘Where are the dead flies!’: perceptions of local communities towards the deployment of Tiny Targets to control tsetse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo AID - 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006879 DP - 2022 Jan 01 TA - BMJ Global Health PG - e006879 VI - 7 IP - 1 4099 - http://gh.bmj.com/content/7/1/e006879.short 4100 - http://gh.bmj.com/content/7/1/e006879.full SO - BMJ Global Health2022 Jan 01; 7 AB - The National Programme for the control of human African trypanosomiasis in Democratic Republic of Congo includes a large-scale vector control operation using Tiny Targets. These are small panels of insecticide-impregnated cloth that are deployed in riverine habitat where tsetse flies concentrate. The effectiveness of Tiny Targets depends partly on acceptance by local communities. In 2018, we conducted research to explore the perception and acceptability of Tiny Targets in two different village clusters where Tiny Targets had been deployed by the local community or external teams. We conducted fourteen focus group discussions and seven semistructured interviews in three villages from each cluster in the Yasa Bonga health zone. Our findings showed that acceptability was better in the cluster where communities were involved in the deployment of Tiny Targets. Also in this cluster, awareness about Tiny Targets was satisfactory and the project was implemented within local customs, which promoted a positive perception of Tiny Targets and their benefits. In the cluster where external teams deployed Tiny Targets, a lack of information and communication, stereotypes applied by communities towards the deployment teams and the impression of inadequate respect for local customs led to anxiety and a misleading interpretation of the purpose of Tiny Targets and negatively influenced acceptability. This study highlights the importance of involving communities for programme acceptance. Our research underlined how awareness campaigns and communication are essential, but also how working within the scope of community social norms and customs are equally important. Prospects for the successful use of Tiny Targets are greater when communities are involved because the use can be adapted to social norms.Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. The data supporting the findings of this study/publication are retained at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp and will not be made openly accessible due to ethical and privacy concerns. Data can, however, be made available after approval of a motivated and written request to the Institute of Tropical Medicine at ITMresearchdataaccess@itg.be.