Malaria is contracted from the bite of the female anopholes mosquito which is mainly active from dawn to dust.   Every 45 seconds a child dies from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, mainly those under the age of 5 years. It is a preventable disease.

The most cost effective way to fight malaria at the present time is to sleep under a mosquito net.   The best nets are long-life, insecticide treated bed nets which have been approved by the World Health Organisation.   They provide a double protection.   The net provides a physical barrier to a child being bitten and the insecticide impregnated into the fibres of the net deters the mosquito from approaching it.   If it does, and touches it, its lifespan is markedly reduced.   The nets carry a 5 year guarantee, although some have been shown to last for 7 years.   They are much tougher than traditional cotton nets, a significant matter when used by children.

The video, accessed from our home page, shows a malaria education and net distribution programme conducted in the Bugarika squatter settlement.   The need was brought to our attention by the Lions Club of Ilemela due to particularly high levels of malaria amongst children in the settlement.   This was variously due to ignorance on the causes of malaria, the presence of excellent breeding grounds for mosquitoes - arising from areas of standing water and dampness around insufficiently dug toilet pits because of the rocky ground which the settlement occupies - and an inability to afford nets.

The project involved full community participation and was managed by the Lions Club of Ilemela under its founding president, Professor Gabriel Mwaluko, one of Tanzania's leading specialists in community medicine.   The nets, which were manufactured in Tanzania, were obtained at a subsidised price through the British Charity, the Against Malaria Foundation.

A full report on the project and a more extensive video, which shows the difficulties in getting into the settlement, will be found on the Foundation's website.   The number of under-5 year old children brought to the Bugarika dispensary has reduced by 86% in the months following the net distribution.

We have also distibuted nets to several orphanages and intend to undertake further distributions.

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