24 April 2009
At 31, Fatima has seen five children into the world, two of whom subsequently died of malaria. When a member of her family falls ill, it is to home remedies and prayer to which Fatima turns. Living in a village in northern Nigeria that is 25 kilometres from the nearest town and without a health clinic or registered drug store, she has little choice.
Soon her village will become even more isolated. The annual rains will start again in the region within the next two months. Though these rains are the lifeblood of local farming, they also make the village impassable by road and bring with them the high season for malaria.
The developing world's biggest killer
Fatima is not the only person worried. Malaria is the biggest killer in the developing world, claiming the lives of over 300,000 children yearly in Nigeria alone. The disease is caused by a parasite carried by mosquitoes, which mostly bite people at night.
But there is hope. Sleeping under a net impregnated with insecticides is a safe, proven and cost-effective preventative measure against malaria. In Nigeria's capital, Abuja, a large team of Nigerians and international partners including DFID are putting together one of the world’s largest and most complex attempts to substantially reduce malaria in an entire country. The plan is to distribute two long-lasting, insecticidal nets to every household over a period of 18 months.
A mammoth task
The team will start in Fatima's state, Kano. Ahead of them is a mammoth task. They will distribute 4 million nets in this state alone, which will require 550 lorries to travel to over 1,000 distribution posts. Twelve thousand volunteers will be trained to visit an estimated 2 million households. Town criers will carry the message of the nets to their villages and community leaders will encourage people to hang and use the nets every day. Radio spots will saturate the airwaves, promoting the benefits of the nets, while net champions will serve as role models. At the campaign launch and other public gatherings, drama groups will perform short plays outlining the dangers of malaria and demonstrating how to hang the nets.
If, in the next two years, Nigeria and its many partners can successfully disperse over 60 million nets in the country, and if at least 80% of the 30 million recipient households use those nets, it is possible that by the year 2011, neither Fatima nor any of her fellow Nigerians will have to lose a family member to malaria. The rains will continue, but the worst killer of children in history will have been rolled back from the largest country in Africa.
Facts and stats
- Nigeria, with a population of 148 million, contributes a quarter of the malaria burden in Africa – 50% of the population will have at least one malaria attack each year.
- Malaria is responsible for 30% of childhood deaths and 11% of maternal deaths in Nigeria.
- DFID, through its £50 million Support to National Malaria Programme (SuNMaP) project, is providing technical and coordination support to the Nigerian bed net distribution effort, as well as 6 million nets.
- The Nigerian bed net campaign will start on 1 May 2009 in Kano state, which is just one of Nigeria’s 37 states.
- The other 36 states will be covered during a series of intensive campaign waves lasting till December 2010. Over 60 million nets will be distributed to around 30 million households during the campaign.