Distribution Activities

A few children played traditional Zambian games while waiting for the distribution activities to begin. The distribution activities commenced with singing and dancing by the women and children present. This was followed by dances by school children from the community. Several local and church leaders participated in the distribution activities. The event was attended by Mrs. Malumo, nurse in-charge at the Matero Main Clinic, Rev. Phaika from Presbyterian Church Matero Congregation, Mr. Simusosha from Ward Development Committee (he is the chair person in charge of CBOs in Matero), Mrs. Nkazwe from the Lusaka City Council, and Power of Love representatives.

Power of Love Foundation's Project Nurse provided education on malaria prevention. He emphasized the importance of sleeping under a net every night, which is the most effective way of preventing malaria, and explained how to use and maintain the net to prevent damage. In addition, he explained drainage and maintenance activities around the home, including the filling and removal of mosquito breeding sites. Finally, he explained the importance of retreating nets every six months, which can be done during the Child Health Weeks held in June and December each year.

Our Project Nurse also underscored the need for keeping nets clean and stored properly. This was followed by a demonstration on the proper use and maintenance of nets by a nurse from one of the area government clinics. She encouraged the participants to retreat the nets every few month, especially since the government clinics provide retreatment kits free of cost. Finally, the Nurse underscored the importance of keeping nets clean and demonstrated how to store them to prevent damage when not in use.

Impact of Bed Nets

Provision of bed nets, education on malaria prevention, and proper use and maintenance of nets go a long way in eradicating malaria from the community. As a result of past distributions, we are seeing very few cases of malaria among children in our pediatric HIV care program and a reduction in the incidence of malaria in our community.

We will continue to conduct a post-distribution study to assess the impact of nets on the incidence of malaria and on the health of the beneficiary families. This study will assess the health of the beneficiary families, as well as if the nets are being used every night, if the nets are being used and stored properly, and if the nets are retreated every six months. We expect to see a continued and marked reduction in the incidence of malaria and a subsequent increase in school attendance due to improved health of the children.

Need for Nets

Follow-up interviews with nets recipients indicates that the nets distributed over the last 2-3 year are in good condition and are being used as directed. However, we need several thousand more nets as a majority of households cannot afford to purchase a net and are without bed nets in our community and in Zambia.

We will be providing an additional 1000 nets and education on malaria prevention in August 2014. At this time we are raising funds to provide 1000 long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLIN’s) in the Spring of 2015 and an additional 1000 nets in Fall 2015. Please donate generously as your donation will go a long way in preventing malaria and keeping the children healthy and in school.

Thank you for caring and helping to eradicate malaria.