Even though the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc around the world, malaria remains the biggest killer in many countries in African including Sierra Leone. The risk exists therefore that the attention paid to COVID-19 may derail the fight against malaria.But the United States embassy in Freetown has just completed distributing 2,500,000 insecticide-treated bed nets. They were part of the U. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), according to a press release from the US embassy in Freetown. It says the nets have been delivered to all districts throughout the country and “will prevent malaria infection for 5 million Sierra Leoneans over the coming years”.
Sierra Leone is one of the most malaria-prone countries in the world with the disease disproportionately affecting poor people especially pregnant women and children.
The press release says that in the coming weeks “with technical and financial assistance from PMI, Sierra Leone’s National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) will preposition all the 2.5 million bed nets at peripheral health units nationwide in preparation for the universal bed net campaign”.
Even though about two-thirds of the country’s households have at least one bed net, “only one quarter of all households met the global standard of at least one treated bed net for every two household members” the US embassy statement says, adding that increasing the number would significantly impact on preventing malaria infection “and is a priority of the U.S. mission in partnering with the Government of Sierra Leone”.
The rest of the release reads:
“Preventing malaria deaths and infections through bed net distribution is especially important in the early stages of combating the spread of COVID-19 and before the rainy season. One of the lessons learned from previous outbreaks is that halting malaria prevention and treatment efforts during a crisis can lead to larger numbers of preventable deaths from malaria. It is important to get these bed nets to households to prevent a spike in malaria deaths or COVID-19 complications due to malaria.
“U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone Maria E. Brewer commended the Government of Sierra Leone for taking the smart and courageous decision to forge ahead with bringing bed nets to all Sierra Leonean households, protecting the health of children and families. She added that this investment will save the lives of Sierra Leoneans through more effective prevention of malaria and demonstrates the commitment of the United States – in partnership with the Government of Sierra Leone to the Sierra Leonean people.
"The U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative is led by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and implemented together with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). PMI has been a proud partner of Sierra Leone since 2017, helping to decrease child death rates by 22 percent through investments totaling almost $45 million.
“PMI has partnered with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to fight malaria in Sierra Leone since 2017, through the National Malaria Control Program. PMI has funded the implementation of core malaria interventions and provides valuable technical and operational assistance in the areas of routine distribution of insecticide treated nets to pregnant women and children under five, procurement of malaria test kits and treatment, entomological monitoring, and data strengthening and improvement”.
Copyright © 2020 Politico Online
