Angola Mosquito Net Project reaches the province of Bie

Teachers in rural areas and women participating in a micro credit program were the happy recipients of mosquitonets donated by our project to the international NGO, Concern Worldwide, which is working in the province of Bie. Approximately 500 teachers and administrative staff received nets and about 200 women who depend on their small vegetable farms to bring in an income, received free nets to help protect their families from malaria.

The teachers are part of a distant education programme and once a month all teachers come together for training. At their October workshop organized by Concern’s Education Officer, the teachers learned about malaria and what steps they must take to prevent it. Since nets are the first line of defence against malaria, they were excited to each receive their own family size net. They learned how easy it is to hang a net during the demonstration given at the workshop.

The Education Officer carried out a health survey with the people who were going to receive the donated mosquito nets and this is what he discovered:
1. The teachers have limited knowledge on what causes malaria, how to prevent it and how to use mosquito nets
2. The only anti-malaria campaign in these municipalities is the Government’s programme, which mainly targets pregnant women and children under the age of 5
3. The majority of families don’t use mosquito nets
4. The distance to the medical clinics are huge and many persons do not have access to basic services. In Cachingues where Concern has a big presence, some villagers have to walk more than 50 kilometres to reach the nearest health post. Additionally, all secondary roads have not yet been cleared for mines. Bie is one of the provinces that was the most heavily mined during the war. Halo Trust has recently started to clear one of the secondary roads. They found 8 mines during the preliminary test search
5. There is limited access to mosquito nets in rural areas

During the training session, several additional items were discussed such as using traditional herbal medicine for prevention and treatment and how to diagnose malaria.

Download the PDF announcement here.