…as 7.4m Persons Benefit from ITN Distribution
Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
Malaria Consortium, an international non-governmental organization has tasked Anambra State government led by Governor Charles Soludo to own up duty to sustain fight against Malaria in Anambra state.
The group gave the task, Friday, during the 2022 Insecticide Treated Net (ITN) Mass Campaign debriefing and report presentation, marking the end of the 2022 distribution exercise in the state.
It urged the government to strengthen post campaign social behavioral change with emphasis on pregnant women and children within the age of five to curb the menace of malaria induced deaths among the two groups in the state.
Presenting the details of the free insecticide treated net distribution exercise at Jerome Udorji Secretariat, Awka Anambra State, Mrs Laitan Adeniyi, Campaign Manager, Malaria Consortium ITN Mass Campaign, Anambra, stated that over 7.4million individuals from the 1, 245,548 households mobilized across the 21 LGA of the state benefitted from the distribution exercise.
She said that a total of 3,851, 250 nets were available for distribution from 3,863,750 received in the state, noting that 3,850,316 nets were distributed, while 704 nets remained at the state warehouse after the exercise.
She also explained that 5304 settlements; out of the available 5306 settlements in the state were covered representing 99.9 percent success rate in the distribution process in the state.
She noted that the organization hired 962 union leaders, 1522 community leaders and CSOs who engaged in massive street announcements to ensure that the people of the state are well informed on the distribution exercise as well as the usage of the nets.
According to her, “1,593 devices were provisioned, configured and deployed for the ITN campaign and the Cash and Asset Transfer (CAT) platform was used to track House Hold mobilization activities.”
She further explained that the real-time data from the CAT platform was analysed and used for informed monitoring, identifying issues, deploying solutions and support to personnel on the field.
Commending the donors, Anambra state Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike assured that the state government would ensure that the usage of the nets are sustained across the state.
He said the use of technology in the ITN distribution proved effective in the exercise and assured that the state government would adopt the same approach to implement other policies of the state.
“Malaria consortium did a very good job in ensuring that residents in the state get the nets. The technology utilized in the process was effective. It is something that is wonderful used to track the process”
While he described the net as a vital tool for preventing Malaria, he charged the people to ensure they sleep inside the nets in their households rather than use it for other purposes not beneficial to the health.