SECTION THEME FEATURE: MOSQUITO-NET DISTRIBUTION
FEATURE: MOSQUITO-NET DISTRIBUTION
A local farmer brings some long- lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) into a community for distribution. These mosquito nets are more effective than untreated ones because the netting contains a WHO-recommended insecticide. With this treatment, the nets can be used for up to three years or 20 washes.
MALARIA FACTS 1 It’s a disease
caused by a parasite
In past years, we’d record 100 cases of malaria in this district every rainy season. This year we’ve recorded only two.” – Eufrasia Mukandapi, with the Ministry of Health and Child Care in Zimbabwe
transmitted to people by infected female mosquitoes. 2 Every year, almost 290 million people are infected and more than 400,000 die of the disease. 3 Malaria kills around half a million children annually.
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Going Door to Door A new mosquito-net-distribution strategy is saving lives in Zimbabwe. F or years, communities in Zimbabwe waged an unwinnable war against
five are most at risk because they have yet to develop any immunity. “Since 2010, Plan International Canada has been working with our Zimbabwe country office to reverse these statistics as part of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria,” says Mitra Manouchehrian, senior program manager at Plan International Canada. “Our partnership with the Plan International office in Zimbabwe is one of our longest-standing collaborations in the Global Fund unit.”
To date, this ongoing $12.6 million project has distributed almost 2.6 million mosquito nets in Zimbabwe. But when the pandemic arrived, it threatened to jeopardize everything. “When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, it coincided with a malaria outbreak in parts of Zimbabwe,” says Sharon Njobo, the Plan International Canada project manager. “I was worried about how the communities would fare. Our team quickly got to work redesigning strategies to support them.”
Most people collected the long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets (LLINs) in centres, such as high schools, but COVID-19 restrictions made gathering in public places impossible. So they tried a new approach: going door to door. “With the help of our supporters, we used $532,349 to complete most of the ‘last mile’ deliveries of the mosquito nets,” explains Rameck Makokove, a project manager at Plan International. “We partnered with community members who contributed everything from donkey-drawn carts to bicycles to get the nets to their final destinations.”
“The mass distribution has been very effective, and malaria cases have dropped,” says Eufrasia Mukandapi, an environmental health technician with the Ministry of Health and Child Care. “In past years, in Zimbabwe, we recorded 100 cases of malaria in this district every rainy season; this year, we’ve recorded only two.” In 2022, Plan International Canada distributed 1.7 million mosquito nets (LLINs). Most countries measure 1 LLIN as protection for 1.8 people, which means we provided protection to more than 3.2 million community members, especially pregnant women and children under five.
mosquitoes. They used mosquito coils (when they could get them) and burned the leaves from Zumbani trees in an attempt to drive away the malaria-infected insects. Despite their efforts, people continued to get sick with the deadly disease.According to the WHO, Africa is home to about 95% of the world’s malaria cases. Children under
44 | 2022 Annual Report
2022 Annual Report | 45
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