Net gains in Angola

It is absolutely vital therefore that the focus of health care here is not just treatment but also education. Our aim is to empower people to realise that there are things they can do themselves to reduce the incidence of ill health.  

There are several things a person can do to reduce the risk of being bitten by a malaria-carrying mosquito. Sleeping under a net is recognised as being just one preventative measure – it is a simple and cost-effective measure.

Nets, however, cost money. The current price is $12 (around £6.30) and this is beyond the reach of many families who struggle to make ends meet. Putting food on the table takes a higher priority.

We were therefore delighted to receive a gift of 400 nets, for us to distribute as we wished, from The MosquitoNetProject, which is based in Luanda.
 

Papa Kwanzambi, Director of the IEBA Health Department for the province of Zaire, talks to people who were going to receive the nets. He explains the importance of using them, how to look after the nets so that they last for four years and how to hang them correctly.

We were also careful to ensure that they were involved in the actual distribution and we asked them to organise people in each village who would help hang the nets.

From a logistical perspective it was a success; now we wait to see the long-term effect and whether or not there is a reduction in the incidence of malaria in these villages. Those who received the nets were grateful but we didn’t have enough nets for everyone.

People realised that the most vulnerable in the community had to be prioritised but I was reminded on a few occasions that “old people die of malaria too!” 

We try to do the best we can with the resources we have and our prayer is that people will use the nets, that a few more children will survive and that people here will realise that there areas of their lives in which in they can take some control.