Physical Health Zambia Project #6187

Project Mosquito Nets

by Power of Love Foundation

Project Report | Feb 23, 2020
Is Our Malaria Prevention Program Effective?

By Alka Subramanian | Executive Director

Malaria education session

Malaria Prevention in Zambia

In 2019, generous donors such as yourself helped raise over $15,000 for Power of Love's malaria prevention and education program. These funds helped provide education and 11,500 long lasting insecticide treated nets to vulnerable populations in Zambia. The provision of nets and education has reduced the incidence of malaria which in turn has resulted in adults taking fewer days off work and children missing fewer days at school. According to the WHO (World Health Organization) sleeping under a good quality mosquito bed net is one of the cheapest and most effective methods of malaria prevention. Further, WHO recommends that mosquito bed nets should be provided free of cost to help eradicate malaria.

Zambia Can Be Malaria Free

A mosquito bed net can sleep up to four young children or two adults and lasts up to two years. This implies that a single net costing less than $5, can keep 3-4 children malaria free, healthy and in school. Since malaria can be fatal, especially for young children, children living with HIV, and pregnant women living with HIV, a few pennies can save lives.

Zambia has set a lofty goal of eliminating malaria by 2021. According to USAID, this goal is ambitious but within reach. We are confident that our malaria prevention program will help Zambia reach its goal of eliminating malaria in the next 3-5 years.

Plan for 2020

Over the last 11 years we have been able to provide over 33,000 nets and education to vulnerable populations such as children and adults living with HIV, young children, older people, HIV+ pregnant women, and people infected with TB. For 2020, our goal is to provide 12,000-15,000 long lasting insecticide treated nets and education to impoverished communities in Zambia. Beneficiary communities are carefully selected based on need and transmission rates of malaria.

Thanks for your caring and dedication to prevent malaria in Zambia.

Demonstration of the Proper Use of a Net

Malaria prevention event

Links:

Permalink

Dec 15, 2019
Thanks for Keeping Orphans and Vulnerable Children Malaria Free and in School

By Alka Subramanian | Executive Director

Oct 6, 2019
Findings of A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Our Malaria Prevention Efforts

By Alka Subramanian | Executive Director

Nets and Education provision in Kafue, Zambia

In 2019, generous donors such as yourself helped raise over $30,000 for Power of Love's malaria prevention program. These funds are being used to provide education and 11,500 long lasting insecticide treated nets to vulnerable populations in Zambia.

To assess the effectiveness of our malaria prevention effortrs, we conduct follow-up studies after every distribution. The results of a study conducted last month are discussed below.

Malaria Prevention Efforts to date in 2019

In May and June 2019, program activities included the provision of education and 5000 long lasting insecticide treated nets to vulnerable populations. Beneficiary communities were chosen based on the high transmission rates of malaria. Beneficiaries included HIV+ children, people infected with Tuberculosis, children under five years of age, older people, pregnant women, chronically ill patients, and children with disabilities as these populations are most vulnerable to malaria. For young children living with HIV, and HIV+ pregnant women malaria could be fatal.

Our goals with the provision of education and malaria bed nets was as follows:

Reduce the number of malaria cases and deaths in the community.
Improve the health of children
Improve school attendance and school performance.
Reduce clinic visits and increase productive working hours.
Educate beneficiaries on prevention of malaria, proper use, storage, and re-treatment of nets.

Study design and Findings

Information from beneficiaries was gathered via questionnaires and focus group discussions. A total of 1500 questionnaires were handed out and collected after a few days. Based on results from 1465 completed questionnaires, and focus group discussions we learnt that:

97% of beneficiaries have knowledge regarding the proper use and storage of nets. 42 beneficiaries did not have information about the re-treatment of nets. Based on this feedback, information regarding re-treatment will be provided to these homes.
On average, more than 2 people used one mosquito net.
The nets were clean and in good condition.
No beneficiary suffered from malaria.
All beneficiaries requested that more mosquito nets be provided next time as some members of the household did not receive nets.

These findings confirm WHO's (World Health Organization) results that sleeping under a good quality mosquito bed net is one of the cheapest and most effective methods of malaria prevention.

A few pennies can save lives. A mosquito bed net can sleep up to four young children or two adults and lasts up to two years. This implies that a single net costing less than $5, can keep 3-4 children malaria free, healthy and in school. Since malaria can be fatal for young children, children living with HIV, and HIV+ pregnant women, it costs just a few pennies to save lives.

Also, WHO recommends that mosquito bed nets should be available to everyone and free of cost to eradicate malaria.

Our Goal is for Zambia to be Malaria Free

Over the last 11 years we have been able to provide over 25,000 long lasting insecticide treated nets and education to people vulnerable to malaria in Zambia. For 2019, our goal is to provide an additional 6,500 nets to bring the total to 11,500 bed nets; this should bring us closer to our goal of eradicating malaria from Zambia.

Thanks for keeping thousands of children and families malaria free.

Children and families with new nets

Home of Happiness for disabled children

Links:

Permalink

‹ 1 ... 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ... 25 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.