Optimal Control of a Malaria Model with Long-Lasting Insecticide-Treated Nets

Abstract

A deterministic multi-stage malaria model with a non-therapeutic control measure, the use of mosquito bednet is formulated and analyzed. The model basic reproduction number is derived, and analytical results show that the models equilibria are locally and globally asymptotically stable when certain threshold conditions are satisfied. Pontryagin's Maximum Principle with respect to a time dependent constant is used to derive the necessary conditions for the optimal usage of the Long-Lasting Insecticide-treated bed Nets(LLINs) to mitigate the malaria transmission dynamics. This is accomplished by introducing biologically admissible controls and %-approximate sub-optimal controls. The results from this study could help public health planners and policy decision-makers to design reachable and more practical malaria prevention programs "close" to the optimal strategy.