Project Mosquito Nets

Malaria continues to be the leading cause of child mortality globally and deaths due to malaria continue to be unacceptably high. Even though significant progress has been made in malaria prevention and treatment, the world is not on track towards meeting the 2030 Sustainable Development targets. Malaria continues to claim more than 600,000 lives every year, mostly impacting young children and pregnant women. The World Health Organization’s 2022 World Malaria Report concludes that without increased investment of resources, a preventable and treatable disease will continue to destroy livelihoods, weaken already fragile health systems, and claim the life of a child every minute. Now is the time to increase momentum to eradicate malaria globally.

In Zambia, malaria season peaks during the rainy months from September to May. At this time, we are raising funds to provide 20,000 long lasting insecticide treated nets and education to benefit more than 75,000 children or 35,000 adults as each net can sleep up to four young children or two adults. Help make this a reality by donating generously. Every dollar counts. And, as always, 100% of your donations go towards programs and no part is used for overheads.

Thank you for giving the gift of health to thousands of adults and children vulnerable to malaria. 

Dear Friend: The Power of Love team extends heartfelt thanks for your dedication to build a malaria free world.  

Your support this year, made it possible for more than 25,000 families to stay malaria free. We were able to safely distribute 22,000 mosquito nets benefitting more than 75,000 children or 40,000 adults. We could not have done this without you. Please take a few minutes to watch this short video that shows a nets provision event in progress in a rural area in Zambia.

Sending you and your family a whole lot of love for the holiday season and for 2023. 

Links:

• About Project Mosquito Nets
• Stories of beneficiaries
• Impact of our Malaria Prevention Program

Need for malaria prevention in Africa: Since 2000, malaria cases and deaths have been declining in Africa due to the provision of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and antimalarial drugs. A decrease in access in either or both would lead to potentially catastrophic increases in malaria morbidity and, mortality within Africa. In 2019, only 52% of the people within a household in sub-Saharan Africa had access to an ITN. In 2020, in part due to COVID restrictions, there were an estimated 241 million malaria cases (up by 14 million from 2019), and 627,000 malaria deaths (up by 69,000 from 2019) worldwide. Malaria endemic countries continue to face challenges as the pandemic is not over. Hence, there is a continuing need to escalate malaria prevention measures to prevent the resurgence of this disease and consequent loss of productivity and life.

Why Zambia? Zambia continues to be a highly endemic malaria country, with the entire population of about 20 million considered to be at risk of contracting malaria due to high co-infection rates between HIV, malaria and TB, poor sanitation etc. It is among the 20 countries with the highest malaria incidence and mortality globally. Pregnant women living with HIV, and children under five are highly vulnerable to malaria infection and death. However, only 52% of pregnant women and children under five use a net.

Our response: To keep families and children healthy and malaria free, 22,000 long lasting insecticide treated nets and education were provided this year. The provision of these nets benefitted 80,000 children or 40,000 adults as each net can sleep up to four young children or two adults. Our plan is to continue to expand the provision of nets with the goal of eradicating malaria from Zambia in the next 2-3 years.

Thanks for keeping families vulnerable to malaria healthy.

Links:

• About Project Mosquito Nets
• Impact of our Malaria Prevention Program
• Stories of beneficiaries

Malaria continues to be the leading cause of child mortality globally; and deaths due to malaria continue to be unacceptably high. However, the emergence of several new technologies such as a malaria vaccine, antimalaria drugs, intermittent preventive therapy, and genetically modified mosquitoes can provide an opportunity to control malaria substantially. Implementing  these new technologies, increased funding and more collaboration between multilateral organizations such as the WHO, GAVI, and the Global Fund can lead to the eradication of malaria in the next two years.

In Southern Africa, malaria season peaks during the rainy months from September to May. To keep families and children healthy and malaria free, 15,000 long lasting insecticide treated nets and education were provided this year. Regular use of these nets, will keep 55,000 children or 25,000 adults malaria free as each net can sleep up to four young children or two adults. Our vision is for Zambia to be malaria free in the next 2-3 years.

In the next four months, our goal is to provide an additional 5,000-7,000 long lasting insecticide treated nets and education benefitting a total of 70,000 children or 40,000 adults this year. Help make this a reality with your generous donations. Every dollar counts. And, as always, 100% of your donations go towards programs and no part is used for overheads.

Thanks for keeping vulnerable children safe from malaria.

Links:

• About Project Mosquito Nets
• Impact of our Malaria Prevention Program
• Why end malaria?

Malaria Prevention Plan: In Zambia, malaria season runs from October to May. In the first three months of 2022, 10,000 mosquito bed nets and education were provided in four rural and five urban areas. Currently, we are raising funds to provide an additional 12,000 nets in September before the next malaria season. This will bring the total to 22,000 nets this year, that will keep more than 70,000 children or 40,000 adults safe from malaria as each net can sleep up to four young children or two adults. Sleeping under a net regularly during malaria season prevents malaria and strengthens the developing immune systems of children.

Need for Nets: Zambia remains a highly endemic malaria country, with the entire population of about 19 million considered to be at risk of contracting malaria. It is among the 20 countries with the highest malaria incidence and mortality globally.  The country carries 2% of the global malaria case burden and 5.2% of the case burden in East and Southern Africa. Poor urban and rural areas especially those close to rivers, with poor sanitation, and located far from the government clinic are the most vulnerable.

Progress in malaria prevention and COVID: Zambia was making significant progress in malaria control till 2018. Some encouraging trends in 2018 were:

• The national infection rate in children under five decreased from 22% in 2006 to 9%percent in 2018.
• 80% of households owned at least one insecticide-treated mosquito net (ITN), an increase from 38 percent in 2006.
• 77% of children in rural areas, where risk is greatest, slept under a mosquito bed net, an increase from 42% in 2008.
• 81 percent of pregnant women received medications to prevent malaria, an increase from 59% in 2006.

Between 2016 and 2019, there was a 27% reduction in malaria cases. In the first half of 2020, however, the National Malaria Elimination Centre (NMEC) reported a 30–50% increase in malaria cases, malaria deaths, and test positivity rates nationally, as compared with 2018 and 2019. According to the WHO, the COVID-19 epidemic has disrupted malaria services leading to a marked increase in cases and deaths.

Zambia can be malaria free: Your continued support for malaria prevention program will go a long way in reducing the incidence of malaria and keeping vulnerable Zambians healthy. Our vision is for Zambia to be malaria free in the next 2-3 years. Help us make this a reality. 

Thank you for giving the gift of health to thousands of people vulnerable to malaria. 

Links:

• About Project Mosquito Nets
• Malaria in Zambia
• COVID and malaria prevention