Community members impregnating bed nets provided by Plan

Community based organizations and youth groups in Cameroon’s Ndibidjeng village, located in Akonolinga health district, are organizing awareness- raising activities and the distribution of mosquito nets in order to combat malaria.

In Cameroon, where at least 2 million cases of malaria are reported each year by health authorities, in 2005, Plan and the Ministry of Health implemented a 3 year malaria control project. The project in Akonolinga health district targets 23,667 children under  5 and pregnant women.

Raising awareness

The activities prepared by Plan-supported youth groups include plays, sketches, health talks on malaria control during public ceremonies and the conduct of regular home visits to ensure the effective use of bed nets and promote intermittent preventive therapy (IPT) - the administration of a full course of an anti-malarial treatment to a population at risk at specified time points, especially for pregnant women as a potential way of preventing malaria in infants. Moreover, volunteers carry out the free distribution of nets to under  5 and pregnant women, but also promote the renovation of old, used nets, which are washed, sewn and impregnated if needed.

Goua Collins,  the president of the Youth Forum  in Ndibidjeng, commented: “We re- impregnate the mosquito nets every 3 months to ensure their effectiveness in protecting against mosquito bites. There is no better way to protect yourself than to sleep under a mosquito net impregnated with insecticides. Since the beginning of this project the cases of malaria have decreased in our community.”

Educative Flipchart

The flipchart is one of the tools used in the fight against malaria in Akonolinga health district. It is a document containing images with simple messages that range from knowledge of disease management to prevention, with clear images at a lower level of understanding for all.

The educative flipchart became a preferable strategy for communities involved in the fight, such as for the Sess community, in health district of Yeme-Yeme.

Ondoua Abel, a member of the Youth Forum of Ndibidjeng, said: “Our mothers and fathers can better control the information concerning the prevention of malaria, thanks to the flipchart messages used for educational talk.” 

Plan-supported volunteers giving health talks on malaria control

Reaching more

Compared with 2005 numbers, in 2009 the project has helped to: increase the percentage of children sleeping under a net from 5% to 84%, increase the percentage of pregnant women sleeping under a net from 13% to 85%, and increase IPT coverage from 60% to 81%. The project is successfully fulfilling its objectives.