In the fight against malaria in South Sudan, HealthNet TPO, with the support of The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Population Services International (PSI), carried out a mass distribution of long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets (LLINs) to people living in all 8 counties of Eastern Equatoria State.
Project update
Between August and December 2020, our local teams distributed 693,300 LLINs to 278,000 households. Travelling door-to-door to hand out mosquito nets, our local teams, with more than 3,100 volunteers, also shared information about how to use the nets correctly, while ensuring that the risk of transmission and spread of Covid-19 was minimised. The nets were given to households free of charge and reached even the most vulnerable and hard-to reach communities, across a mountainous and insecure region, primarily children under the age of five and pregnant women in rural communities. More than 73,500 nets were also distributed to health facilities across the region.
“My name is Amer, I live in the cattle camps in Magwi county, Agoro payam. I first heard about HealthNet TPO from a man who was moving around with a megaphone making announcements of a mosquito nets distribution. At first, I was skeptical because many organisations come out to the communities to offer humanitarian assistance but never really reach us here in the bushes since we are always moving up and down with our cattle.
When a young man came all the way here with mosquito nets to distribute to all the cattle camps, I was excited. I was really happy when my family received 3 nets which is going to protect us from mosquito bites.
We have suffered a lot as nomads because we don’t have settled livelihoods, we are basically always moving from place-to-place setting camp just out in the wild and if these mosquito nets never really came, the constant sicknesses of our children would be inevitable.
I appreciate HealthNet TPO for reaching us here deep in the communities we have created for ourselves.”
Malaria prevention
Malaria is one of the leading causes of death in South Sudan. It accounts for 20-40% of all visits to health facilities, 30% of all hospital admissions and is a leading cause of death. However, it can be prevented, treated and deaths significantly reduced with mosquito nets and access to quality health care services.
Malaria is passed to humans by mosquitos, infecting the person being bitten, usually at night time. By sleeping under mosquito nets, malaria is prevented through avoidance of mosquito bites at night. Therefore, the mosquito nets that we distributed are a form of prevention rather than treatment.
Awareness raising
As well as distributing the nets, our teams carried out campaigns to improve knowledge, attitudes and practices on malaria and using mosquito nets correctly. Demonstrations on how to hang the nets were done in all the counties and shown to the households while issuing out the nets. The misuse of mosquito nets for fishing, erecting their grass thatched houses, selling the nets and using them for tying goats or sheep was discouraged and households were cautioned of the consequences.
Our teams utilised local radio stations, the main source of mass communication in Eastern Equatoria, to convey key messages on the distribution and malaria prevention in many local languages including Otuho, Madi, Acholi, Toposa, local Arabic and English. Radio jingles, state- and local-FM radio announcements were used as well as banners, posters and town calling within towns and villages.
As well as adapting our distribution methodologies due to the Covid-19 pandemic in order to continue our mass distribution, our teams faced many other challenges. Our campaign was conducted during the rainy season, and many areas were cut off due to flooding and bad roads. On two separate occasions a truck and tractor transporting nets overturned in Lopa. The majority of people living in Eastern Equatoria State live on subsistence farming and livestock rearing. There are some elements of cattle raiding which results in inter-communal fighting and insecurity in these areas. Security was also an issue for many of our teams travelling through these insecure regions. Many people were also displaced by the floods and violence, and had to move to other areas for safety.
HealthNet TPO has a lot of experience in managing these mass distribution campaigns. In 2018 we successfully distributed 510,593 LLINs across 10 Counties of Western Equatoria in South Sudan. We also distribute bed nets to the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities in Afghanistan. Support us today so that we can continue to prevent the deaths of children and vulnerable adults from malaria. Help us to reach even more communities in South Sudan and Afghanistan.
