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Mosquito Nets for Kireka
Posted to: Life in Africa-Global by Evvy Bryning (127), Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:53:51 PDT
Edited: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:41:46 PDT
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Comments: 11 by 8 members
Viewed: 117 times by 19 members
While I was in Uganda, I stayed at a place called the Red Chile. Its kind of like a hostel or guest house and has mostly international travelers. It was cheap, clean and convenient to get to the center in Kireka. But it was also so interesting. I love to talk to people and I met so many people there (I stayed there for 25 days) and had such interesting conversations.
I also visited Child Aid Uganda and heard about their mosquito net project. It got me to thinking and so I started looking at our members at the Kireka center and asked them about the use of nets. They all said they would like to have nets but of course cannot afford them. They all know that the use of good nets, while not a cure all for malaria, will greatly reduce the cases and that really interests them.
I also had a conversation with a group of doctors and nurses who were volunteering in Kampala and the surrounding areas. They were all very strongly in favor of the use of nets. One young doctor from the UK told me that in the 2 years he has been working in a remote village he has seen the cases of malaria go down by at least a third due completely (in his oppinion) to the proper use of mosquito nets. He felt that the number would go up dramatically if enough nets could be put in use to protect everyone. Currently most of the give away programs only target pregnant woman and very young children. Bill Gates and his program actually did a give away 2 years ago at the Acholi quarters in Kireka but they only gave away 900 nets. There are currently over 4000 houses and about 15,000 people so that did not make a huge impact.
In talking with our women at the center it became clear to me that to really make an impact, all members of a family should be protected. If you have a home that is run by a mother or a grandmother and is supporting a lot of orphans (very typical of our membership) then if she get malaria, the whole family suffers. And if only one net is given to a household that may include up to 20 people, how do they decide who gets to use the net? Its a real dilemma.
I have been talking to some people here who are interested in spearheading this kind of project for LiA Kireka. Our plan is to provide nets for each BED in the household. We really feel that by doing this we can make a bigger impact. I currently have Grace and Peter doing a survey of our members to determine how many nets would be needed in each household. Along with the nets will be education on the use of the nets, proper installation, care and maintenance of the nets and a follow up survey to document the impact.
I think it may be very interesting to watch this develop.
By Evvy Bryning (127), Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:37:58 PDT
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Thanks David. I am not sure how to make the connection but would try if we can figure it out.
We have several plans being worked out to fund this and I will post more as soon as some of the details are worked out. I am really excited about it. First step is to find out how many we need.
We have decided to go for the good ones. There are three types of nets. Untreated (why bother), low cost treated (they need to be re-treated every 6 months and that is not practical), and the good ones that are good for 5 years. They cost more of course but we figure to just go for it.
The women were actually very excited about the prospect of getting nets since malaria is a constant worry for them.
topBy Ndelo Peter (94), Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:30:04 PDT
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Thanks Evyy for this net project, indeed According to survey we have ever done about some one's historical health, every one will say maleria, which means maleria is threat to every ugandan house holds more so to those who can not afford.
Prevention is better than cure.
By Ndelo Peter (94), Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:42:33 PDT
Comment feedback score: 1 (*) +|-
When we were carrying out survey asking the ladies how many beds each owns, we had not disclosed to them the motive behid it as they would just give many numbers of bed so that to recieve many nets if its to be given to them, Some did not unstand the quesition as they thought having beds means having good beds,
Some said they did not have any bed untill we explained to them that it does not necessarily mean that one should have a bed or matress but can be any sleeping material, be it matress or mat but the most important is how many people share that mat or matress? it was later understood and every body was happy about the idea.
By Ben Parkinson (61), Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:07:18 PDT
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I think quite a few of the kids sleep three to a bed, so on the positive side, one net would do three of them.
Without wishing to derail the valuable thread, the young people at Kireka are talking very worriedly about child sacrifice. Apparently, witch doctors' paid minions appear in houses at night, throw in some potent drugs that knock people out and then carry children away for blood sacrifice.
This may sound far-fetched, but a chat to one of the older youths and he said that he knew many, many (I quote) children who had died like this. The same youth lost his younger brother to a potent form of malaria - even with drugs, he couldn't be saved, so there are problems a many there.
I may start a separate thread on the former issue, as I have some interventions that I hope to push forward on this subject.
By Christina Jordan (254), Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:57:06 PDT
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nice idea... yes, Peter, I did wonder about the number of "beds" especially since many sleep on mats or mattresses on the floor. Glad you got it worked out so the women understood.
By scott swaney (4), Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:36:41 PDT
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Evvy, What's going on with the survey?is this project still progressing? Iknow that unicef has a similar project goinh on......I will post the link when I can .
By Evvy Bryning (127), Sun, 16 Aug 2009 10:54:01 PDT
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Thanks Scott,
We have completed the survery for the first 30 or so families and I am madly trying to find the time I need to put the proposal together. We already have some support and I am confident that the first phase is going to go smoothly and should be up within the next few weeks.
I am pleased to say that I think our goal of furnishing for the number of beds has been well received. I can name one family we surveyed that has 20 people living in the home. One net is not going to be very effective and how do you choose who gets the net?
More to come on this soon
By okema timothy (6), Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:23:25 PDT
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i am a new discussant whose eyes have been caught by your discussion since malaria is a lethal killer in Uganda distributing mosquito nets would be a brilliant idea, infact a lifesaver among the poor people in the kireka community this as per my point of view will reduce infant mortality which has been ample in the history of Uganda.thank you for being thoughtful.
By scott swaney (4), Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:09:01 PDT
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This link isn't the one I was looking for, but it is really informative. I searched for Kireka at the Unicef site and nothing came up. http://www.childinfo.org/files/m alaria_and_children.pdf
It mentions in the summary that over 800,000 African children under the age of 5 die every year from malaria.
By John Powers (134), Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:26:30 PDT
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Malaria Matters provides authoratative information on malaria towards a malaria-free future.
By David Bale (139), Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:24:27 PDT
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This sounds like a well-considered and properly researched proposal that could really have an important impact in reducing serious risk among some of the most disadvantaged people in Kireka.
Despite having had little success so far in establsihing contact with Worldwide Connection Project partner areas, I did look to see who Kireka's WWC partner area is:
Not quite sure how best to pursue this - the idea would be to find people in Yunlin county who might be interested in campaigning for treated mosquito nets for people in Kireka. And to use this campaign to build up a support base for WWC in Taiwan.
If it were that easy, though, I think I might have had more success in trying to alert the people of Houston to the aspirations of the KJT in Uganda.