Project Mosquito Nets

This report is different from others as it shares a story about failing – yes we failed to complete an extension to our malaria prevention project in Zambia. Here is the scoop:

Our Goal: The goal of Project Mosquito Nets is to reduce the incidence of malaria in the community of Matero in Lusaka, Zambia. This goal is achieved through the provision of long lasting insecticide treated nets and education on prevention of malaria to thousands of children and families vulnerable to malaria.

Need to Empower Community Residents: The community of Matero is characterized with a high incidence of malaria and HIV; high co-infection rates between malaria and HIV can prove fatal for young children, expecting moms, and older people living with HIV. In addition, this community is characterized with low incomes due to low education and an unemployment rate upward of 60%. Most residents are poor and live on less than $2 per day – defined as extreme poverty by the UN. And hence there is a huge need for the provision of malaria bed nets (as most residents cannot afford to purchase them), and to create sources of income for community residents.

Malaria Prevention and Community Empowerment: Given these characteristics of the community, we thought it makes sense to prevent malaria and make the community stronger by teaching them how to make malaria bed nets for use at home or for sale. Our plan for the first few months, was to assure an income to residents by purchasing nets from them. After a few months as the quality of nets improved, residents could sell them in the market for income. This project seemed like a perfect solution to the twin problems of malaria and low incomes due to lack of marketable skills. We decided to implement the project in two phases.  

Phase 1: As a first step we connected with the creator of DNP technology that uses waste plastic to make malaria nets, and plastic sheets (to cover windows to keep out mosquitoes). Other items that can be made include cell phone covers, hand bags, school bags, rain coats etc. which can be used at home or sold for an income. In addition, recycling plastic waste helps keep the community clean. This unique project could achieve several goals at a relatively low cost.

We selected a dynamic lady from the community to be trained in DNP technology. The training was completed successfully and the trainee went home to Zambia super excited about this new technology.

Phase 2:  In this phase our goal was for the trained community member to conduct 4-5 workshops that would provide training in manufacturing mosquito bed nets from waste plastic. Our goal was to train a total of 200-225 residents and make these workshops an annual feature of our malaria prevention program.

Our team on the ground then spent 3-4 weeks trying to collect the right equipment to make bed nets. We discovered that the equipment required (for example, special needles, electric sewing machines, boards) to manufacture mosquito nets was simply not available locally or if available was too expensive to make the project viable. Second, we discovered that the community was not ready to learn this technology. We had to take the decision to fail forward by cancelling the proposed workshops even though a significant amount of time and resources had been invested during Phase 1 of this project.

We are hopeful that we could implement Phase 2 in the future (2017?) when we have collected the right equipment and when the community is ready to learn this new technology.

What we Learnt? Our experience with this extension project taught us that:

1. It is critical to plan and visualize all phases of a project well before embarking on the project. We learned that we should have created a comprehensive list of equipment needed, if all the equipment was available locally and at what cost.
2. It is important to involve community members from the very beginning; for example, community members can play an active role in brainstorming, idea testing and subsequently planning stages of the project.
3. Failing forward can save resources down the line that can be used for other life-saving projects or extensions to projects.    
4. Once the decision to fail forward has been taken, project leaders and community members should brainstorm on making improvements on the original idea and how to do things differently next time.

Thanks for helping eradicate malaria in Zambia.

mbia.

Links:

• About Project Mosquito Nets
• Impact of our Malaria Prevention Program

The Power of Love team along with beneficiary families in Zambia, would like to say a big “Thank You” to you. As a result of your generosity and caring, we were able to provide 2000 insecticide treated nets and education on prevention of malaria to children and families vulnerable to malaria in Zambia. Due to the continued provision of nets we are seeing a reduction in the incidence of malaria and with improved health more children are able to attend school regularly.

Recent Malaria Prevention Activities: In July 2016, we were able to provide 2000 long lasting insecticide treated nets and education on prevention of malaria to children and families vulnerable to malaria.The event was held at Matero Catholic Church in Lusaka, Zambia and attended by 700-750 beneficiary families. The education on malaria prevention component included a demonstration on the proper use and storage of nets, hygiene, drainage maintenance, filling and removal of mosquito breeding sites, negative impact of malaria in pregnancy, information about malaria for HIV+ children, identification of signs and symptoms of malaria, and information regarding re-treatment of nets every six months.

Impact of Malaria Prevention Activities: Provision of bed nets and education on malaria prevention has gone a long way in reducing the incidence of malaria in our community. As a result of our malaria prevention program, beneficiary families have (i) have increased knowledge about proper use and storage of nets, (ii) are able to re-treat nets every six months, (iii) need fewer visits to hospitals/clinics, (iv) have fewer cases of malaria, (v) see an increase in school attendance due to improved health of the children, and (vi) have a higher quality of life and general well-being.

Measuring Impact: A follow-up study will be conductedin October 2016, to assess the impact of nets on the incidence of malaria and on the health of beneficiary families. This study will assess: regular use and proper storage of nets, knowledge about malaria prevention, and the health of beneficiary families. Results of past follow-up studies have underscored the need for our malaria prevention program.

Plan for 2017: Our goal is to provide 5000 malaria bed nets and education on malaria prevention to children and families in 2017.  Most families in our community cannot afford to purchase a net due to a high unemployment rate in the community. In addition, a rise in prices of essential items is causing increased hardship for residents. Hence there is an ongoing need for nets. With the provision of these nets, our goal is to eradicate malaria from Zambia and keep children and families healthy and malaria free.

Is it possible to reduce malaria deaths to zero? The answer is “yes, we can eradicate loss of life due to malaria as it is both preventable and curable. Malaria has been eradicated in the US and it is possible to eradicate it worldwide. In fact, over the last 15 years, increased prevention and control measures have led to a 60% reduction in malaria mortality rates globally. According to the World Health Organization, sleeping under a mosquito bed net is one of the most cost effective and easiest ways to prevent malaria.

Over the last seven years we have been able to provide over 10,800 insecticide treated nets and education on malaria prevention to families vulnerable to malaria in Zambia. Direct beneficiaries are 43,200 young children or 21,600 adults as each net can sleep up to four young children or two adults. Going forward our plan is to provide 5000 insecticide treated nets or more than double the number of beneficiaries each year.

Thank you for helping us eradicate malaria in Zambia. 

Links:

• Impact of our Malaria Prevention Activities in 2016
• About Project Mosquito Nets
• Impact of PMN on Childrens' Health and Schooling