Malaria Prevalence, Mosquito net Preventive Therapy and Future Implications: A case study of Ogun state, Nigeria

The red blood cell has the most abundant blood cells in the body and is responsible for the transportation of oxygen in the body cells. Therefore, an infected person will certainly undergo symptoms to show the presence of the parasite in the victim’s body. When the symptoms is not complicated, headache, cold, fever, pain, vomiting etc might occur but when left untreated, complications can lead to oedema, convulsion, severe body pain, difficulty in breathing and may result to death.

According to the World Health Organization data reports, about half of the world population are prone to malaria. However, about 90% cases of malaria were reported to have occurred from sub-saharan african countries with an alarming 92% deaths caused by malaria.

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How the Treated Mosquito Nets were distributed

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Between May 1 to 5, more than 3 million mosquito nets were supplied by the Catholic Relief service (CRS) to Ogun state residents which have about 20 Local Governments and 37 Local Council Development with a population of over 4 million residents.

According to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) who provided the funds for the program, the mosquito nets which worth more than 3 billion naira was directed to only the region to tackle the prevalence of malaria in the state. From the proportion of the mosquito nets supplied to the population of the residents, the proposed plan for the usage is that 2 people would sleep in 1 mosquito net.

This, plus other vital information was disseminated during the training especially on the reasons for the distribution and the procedures before and during usage. However, of the other malaria eradication programs that i have participated in, the program was the most organized and efficient due to the use of electronic gadgets in the distribution of the nets.

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Aftermath of the Mosquito net distribution

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It's been 4 months after the distribution of the mosquito nets. Normally, evaluations are done to find out if the aim of the program was achieved. To my surprise, the outcome is too critical to mention. It was surprising to see the mosquito nets not being used for its sole aim. After going round some communities in which larger turnouts of mosquito net collections were recorded, it was surprising and alarming to see that these mosquito nets were used for other purposes other than to sleep underneath. The following were observed:

1. Use of mosquito nets for Agricultural purposes

This was the most alarming way in which the newly distributed mosquito nets were abused. In places visited, especially in 5 Local Government areas, residents boldly make use of these nets as if that was what it was really meant for. Such agricultural sites on which these nets were seen are on farm lands (majorly to make a barrier to what was planted), Poultry (surprisingly, other form of mosquito preventive products such as mosquito coils and insecticides were used to repel insects), Fish ponds (newly distributed mosquito nets were seen tied round the ponds as barrier, some reports even submit the use of mosquito nets for hauling fish), local agricultural processing plants (old mosquito nets were seen to be used as covering for cassava and tools on the processing sites) etc

_{Use of Treated Mosquito nets for Agricultural Purposes: Picture taken by myself using Samsung Galaxy Tab E camera}

2. Use of mosquito nets for household usage:

From evaluations, the newly distributed mosquito nets were seen in some households displayed as window shield and curtains, door curtains or used as room demarcations.

3. Other abuses

Some other abuse reports which is worthy of note are; use of mosquito nets as inner lay for bags; as sponges for bathing, as wedding veil etc

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Implications of mosquito net abuse on the eradication of malaria

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With the emerging abuses of mosquitoes nets outlined above, the major implication for these abuses is that the mosquitoes responsible for the transmission of malaria is likely to develop resistance to treated nets. This means that the eradication of malaria through mosquito nets or any other mosquito repellants is under threat and the global aim to reduce the mortality rate due to malaria might be hitting the rock.

My view on the cause of this abuse is based on the numbers of mosquito nets distributed. Every four years, Nigerian government in affiliation with a specific NGO do ensure that treated mosquito nets are freely distributed to its citizens. Over-saturation of these nets is one of the major reasons why these nets have been abused. Another reason for the abuse is wrong/misinformation on the usage. Lastly, many people that wrongly used these mosquito nets are discovered not to have ever slept under the net before. This means that the intention to use these nets for other purposes have been decided before collection.

_{Mosquito showing resistance to Treated mosquito net BY LOGANATHAN . R.: FROMWikipedia commons:CC BY SA 3.0}

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Conclusion

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I will conclude by suggesting few likely measures to prevent abuses on subsequent Mosquito net distributions. Firstly, i will advise that henceforth, collection of mosquito nets should be done by demand through the nearest health facilities. Adequate measures should be put in place to ensure effective usage of collected mosquito nets and strict laws should be passed to punish those found to wrongly use the nets. Likewise, priority should be given to pregnant women and nursing mothers who are in dire need of the nets. Other preventive therapy such as the use of genetically modified mosquitoes should be considered.

Thank you for listening

|REFERENCES|

Malaria: Symptoms, treatment, and prevention

Malaria: Wikipedia

Key points on world malaria report 2017: World Health Organisation

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