More than 2 million mosquito nets distributed as Niger battles malaria: UN
Aiming to protect 3.5 million children from malaria in Niger, where almost all the population are at risk from the disease, more than 2 million mosquito nets have now been delivered throughout the impoverished country to mothers of children under five, the United Nations-backed health fund that sponsored the campaign said today.
Aiming to protect 3.5 million children from malaria in Niger, where almost all the population are at risk from the disease, more than 2 million mosquito nets have now been delivered throughout the impoverished country to mothers of children under five, the United Nations-backed health fund that sponsored the campaign said today.
Distribution of mosquito nets began at the end of last year in a campaign that was supported by an $11 million grant from the UN-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as well as by $2 million from the Canadian International Development Agency.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Niger Ministry of Health began distributing the mosquito nets on 19 December, in tandem with a house-to-house effort to vaccinate 'under-fives' against Polio, the agencies said in a news release.
Additional support for the programme was provided by the Norwegian and American Red Cross societies, Rotary, the Center for Medical Research (CERMES), the Measles Partnership, the Polio Eradication Programme, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership – which includes the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) – and United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The campaign also involved almost 4,000 Red Cross volunteers and more than 16,000 other vaccinators and community workers, the release stated, adding that the Niger Red Cross society would play an “essential role in following up that the nets are correctly hung up and used.”
With a population of over 12 million, Niger ranks last of 177 countries measured by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index (2005) and 97 per cent of its population is at risk from malaria. Children in Niger face an under-five mortality rate among the highest in the world – 255 per 1,000.
The Global Fund currently supports Niger's efforts to combat malaria through two grants worth $16 million. A third grant worth up to $4.6 million for malaria programs was approved in December.
In a separate development related to the fight against malaria, the single largest killer of children in Africa, stars of the African music world and international public health experts, gathered in New York last week for the US premiere screening of 'AFRICA LIVE: The Roll Back Malaria Concert,' co-hosted by the UN Foundation and UNICEF.
“One of the most effective interventions is to make sure that all children and mothers sleep under impregnated mosquito nets,” UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Kul Gautam said at the screening. “These mosquito nets cost only five cents apiece. If all the children of Africa slept under mosquito nets, a quarter of a million children would not die every year.”