A mother in South Kivu picks
up a mosquito net during a
vaccination and distribution
campaign in October 2007.
KINSHASA, Dem. Rep. of Congo, September 18, 2008 – In 2008, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will undertake two large-scale activities in an effort to attain national coverage with mosquito nets for malaria prevention.
In September in the capital Kinshasa, the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), under the guidance of the Congolese government, began distributing two million long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs), which will cover at least four million people at risk of malaria.
In November, the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) will launch an integrated vaccination and malaria campaign in Equateur province. The goal of the initiative is to protect more than 1.5 million children from the ravages of measles, poliomyelitis, vitamin A deficiency, intestinal worms and malaria. Close to 1.5 million LLINs will be distributed during the weeklong campaign.
The nets will travel along the Congo River into the heart of the country, moved by trucks, bicycles, canoes and sheer human effort for distribution via health centers and community outposts in remote communities. These campaigns are part of on-going efforts to acheive DRC’s goal of universal LLIN coverage.
Malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in DRC. Estimates indicate that 97% of the country’s 69 million people live in areas where malaria is endemic and transmitted throughout the year. High transmission rates throughout DRC result in about 180,000 deaths annually, according to a 2005 World Bank-financed study.
DRC is also one of the world’s most difficult places to deliver health care. Two decades of civil war (and continuing violence in the East) have decimated the health infrastructure and set back development of the country. And yet, despite daunting structural and logistical challenges, DRC’s Ministry of Health (MOH) is making enormous strides in the fight against malaria.
The growing list of donors and partners supporting these efforts includes PSI, which is distributing two million LLINs in Kinshasa, creating the communication campaign to promote the correct use of LLINs, and providing logistical support for the Equateur campaign; the UK Department for International Development, which is contributing 560,000 LLINs and funding; the Center for Integrated Development Bwamanda and the Ubangi and Mongala Community of Churches, which has helped organize LLIN transport and warehousing in Equateur; Red Cross; UNICEF; USAID; United Nations Office for Project Services; the World Bank, which is providing LLINs and funding for the Kinshasa and Equateur campaigns, and the World Health Organization.
To date, DRC’s collaborative efforts have been aimed at children and pregnant women; the next hurdle is to cover the entire at-risk population with LLINs. The government has already undertaken two campaigns, Bas Congo in 2006 and South Kivu in 2007, and those scheduled for 2008 represent the most ambitious efforts.
In the years to come, the MOH aims to have mass distributions of LLINs in three to four provinces a year. Where feasible, the LLIN distributions will be combined with other health interventions. Considerable local and international planning has already been done to cover the remaining seven provinces of the DRC, and only the resources to buy LLINs and effect further recruitment and training of human resources are hindering DRC’s substantial forward push in the battle against malaria.
The Alliance for Malaria Prevention is supporting DRC’s efforts to attain the Millennium Development Goal Six and the 2010 Roll Back Malaria targets.
