In a renewed fight to eliminate malaria in Anambra State, the State Government is to begin mass distribution of 3.8 million Insecticide Treated mosquito Nets (ITNs) from Sunday, 7 to Wednesday 17th August 2022.
The mass distribution is powered by Malaria Consortium (MC) in collaboration National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) and GiveWell Open Philanthropic funding.
Speaking in Awka during Media Orientation on implementation of Incenticide Treated Nets (ITNs), the Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike, said the media orientation was to sensitize Ndi-Anambra about the mass distribution of Insecticide Mosquito Nets which shall be distributed to every household in the State free of charge across all the 21 local government areas of the state.
Represented by the Head, Department of Public Health and Disease Control in the ministry, Dr Anaeme Afam Cyril, the Health Commissioner said Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo will flag off the distribution and that the distributors were well trained and picked from within the local government areas hosting the communities.
He noted that the distributors will do an on-the-spot education on how to use the Nets and urged families to admit the distributors despite the security situation in the country.
Dr Obidike maintained that in spite of the tense situation in Anambra, efforts are in top gear to distribute the materials to hard-to-reach areas of the state.
The spokesman of Malaria Consortium, Farooq Muhammed Awwal said the aim of the awareness is to ensure that for every two persons in the state, there is one-bed net to sleep inside, but a large family can get as many as four Nets, adding that the last time the mosquito nets were mass distributed in the state was in 2014.
“The objective of the ITN mass campaign is to ensure that for every 2 persons in Anambra State, there is one bed-net to sleep inside.
“The distribution of ITN will be done on door-to-door bases across all the 21 LGAs of the State.
“Household registration and simultaneous distribution of net will commence from 7th to 17th of August 2022, from 8:30am to 2pm on daily bases.
“Households must ensure that they have someone at home within this period to collect nets.
“The newly collected nets MUST be aired under a SHADE for 24hrs before hanging and sleeping inside. Bring down the old nets and hang the new ones.
“The mass distribution is led by the Anambra State Ministry of Health through the State Malaria Elimination Programme with Malaria Consortium providing technical support as the implementing partner”, he stated.
