FEATURE: MOSQUITO-NET DISTRIBUTION
1.7 million mosquito nets (LLINs) were distributed in 2022. Most countries measure one LLIN as protection for 1.8 people, which means we provided protection to more than 3.2 million community members , including pregnant women and children under five.
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.”
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 mosquitoes.
“Since 2010, Plan International Canada has been working with our Zimbabwe country office to reverse these statistics as part of our partnership with The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria,” says Mitra Manouchehrian, senior program manager at Plan International Canada. When the pandemic arrived, it threatened to jeopardize how this ongoing $12.6 million project handled the distribution of nets. Most people collected the long-lasting insecticidal mosquito
They used mosquito coils (when they could get them) and burned the leaves from Zumbani trees to drive away the malaria-infected insects. Despite their efforts, people continued to get sick with the deadly disease. According to the WHO, about 95% of the world’s malaria cases are in Africa. Children under five are most at risk because they have not developed any immunity.
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2022 Annual Report | DIGEST
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