Vol. 8, Issue 5, Part A (2021)

Background: Jambi Province is one of the endemic province in Indonesia. For the last 13 years (2007-2019) the IR of DHF were fluctuated and the peak was in 2019 (62.4 per 100,000 population) higher than national standard (<49 per 100,000 population). Lemongrass plant produces an essential oil known as citronella oil that can be used as a mosquito repellent. The study objective was to determine the effectiveness of citronella oil as anti-mosquito repellent spray against the death of Aedes aegypti mosquito.

Methods: This study was a quasi experimental with posttest only control group design conducted at the Environmental Health Laboratory, Faculty of Public Health, Jambi University. The research sample was 50% citronella oil and adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes breeded results from eggs obtained from the Baturaja Health Research and Development Center, South Sumatra Province. The type of data collected in this study was data from the calculation of the number of mosquitoes that died due to the activation of anti-mosquito spray with citronella oil. T-test was employed to determine the mean difference of died mosquitoes in the treatment and control group.

Results: It is resulted that the average of died mosquitoes from 5 replications was 97.32% in the treatment group, meanwhile no mosquitoes died in the control group. The statistical test results showed that the anti-mosquito spray made from citronella oil had a significant difference between the control sprayer to kill Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (p value: 0.000, 95%CI: 28.16 – 30.24).

Conclusion: Citronella oil was effective as anti-mosquito repellent spray against Aedes aegypti mosquito. It is recommended to be able to use the yard for cultivating lemongrass plants.