When Benjamin Celestino looked across the Luhanda River in Malanje Province in northwest Angola, he knew there was a community of almost 4,500 people on the other side waiting for their potentially life-saving mosquito nets. Despite the challenge ahead, he didn’t hesitate: “We didn’t lower our arms; we improvised and there we did the distribution. We used handcrafted canoes, and we made it happen,” he said.
Benjamin is a member of one of the 1,000 teams, funded by the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), that delivered approximately 3.5 million nets to more than 7 million Angolans – around one-fifth of the country’s population – between April and September 2022. Each distribution team was made up of three people who transported bales of nets across often treacherous terrain to make sure families could sleep at night safe from malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
Nets being delivered door to door. Photo Credit: Marcelino Uyango, PSI Angola
According to the World Health Organization, Angola experienced 8 million malaria cases and around 15,000 deaths in 2020. Mass delivery of insecticide-treated bed nets remains one of the most effective prevention strategies in reducing malaria transmission. Studies have shown that use of nets prevents around 68 percent of malaria cases.
PMI supported the delivery of nets to 193 communities in 60 municipalities in six provinces in northern Angola. Almost 40 percent of those communities were difficult to reach due to barriers such as challenging roads, rivers that isolate communities, and mountains that separate villages. It took tenacity, innovation, and flexibility to meet the campaign’s net delivery goals.
ITN distribution in Cunda Dia Base, Malanje province. Photo credits: Marcelino Uyango, PSI Angola
The net distribution teams did not give up even when faced with last-minute hurdles, like an impassable road that required pushing a car for two hours to reach a village or maneuvering a motorbike with nets strapped to the back along a rough dirt track.
Nets were delivered door-to-door to avoid mass gatherings that could risk transmission of COVID-19. More than 3,000 distribution team members visited households to hand out nets, while promoting key malaria prevention messages along with information on how to use and care for the nets.
(on the left) ITN distribution in Uíge (on the right) ITN distribution in Cunda Dia Base, Malanje province. Photo credits: Marcelino Uyango, PSI Angola
The positive impact the nets will have on communities made all the hard work worth it, said distribution team member Márcia de Castro: “It’s not easy to climb mountains here in Cuanza Norte to bring the bed nets to our people. But it is very rewarding to know that by doing this we are saving lives and that zero malaria starts with me.”
Cover photo: Net delivery in Negage, Uíge province. Photo credit: Alberto Zingany, PSI Angola