NetsforLife promotes an integrated prevention model that focuses on building community awareness about malaria, educating and training people to use effective preventive methods and accurate treatments for malaria, and advocating for better access to drug therapies that save lives.
Effective Prevention of Malaria
The First Line of Defense—LLITNs
Preventing the spread of malaria is the key to saving lives. Since most malaria-carrying mosquitoes bite at night—the simplest and most effective preventive technique is for people to sleep under Long-Lasting Insecticide-Treated Nets (LLITNs). These nets, infused with an insecticide that will remain effective after 20 washes (an estimated three to five years), represent the most advanced technology available in the fight against malaria. Traditional nets have to be re-treated with insecticide every six months —a difficult practice to maintain—otherwise nets become ineffective in treating malaria.
Sleeping under LLITNs can cut malaria transmission by 50% and child deaths by 20%. The insecticides also have repellent properties that reduce the number of mosquitoes that can enter a house. Research shows that when nets are used properly by three-quarters of the people in a community, not only does the incidence of malaria infection decrease, but the actual mosquito population drops by as much as 90%.
NetsforLife provides World Health Organization (WHO) approved long-lasting insecticide treated nets (PermaNet®, manufactured by Vestergaard-Frandsen), along with the appropriate training and use of the nets. NetsforLife prioritizes the distribution of LLITNs to those groups most vulnerable to malaria—young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems (such as people with HIV/AIDS).
Currently, it is estimated less than 5% of children in sub-Saharan Africa sleep under any type of insecticide treated net.
Vector control—vectors are organisms that transmit disease—so in the case of malaria, mosquitoes are the vectors. NetsforLife trains communities in household and community vector control techniques.
Advocacy and Access to Effective Drug Therapies
Anti-malarial drug treatments—since prompt and effective medical treatment saves lives, NetsforLife works with governments and local health providers to promote awareness of and access to Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT), the first-line malaria treatment recommended by the WHO.
Pregnant women are particularly susceptible to malaria because the parasites have a high affinity to the mother’s placenta, the organ through which oxygen and nutrients are passed from mother to the fetus. With this high concentration of malaria parasites in the placenta, this passage of nutrients and oxygen is compromised, often resulting in premature delivery and low birth weight of babies. NetsforLife works to increase the use of proven preventive treatments (called Intermittent Preventive Treatment— IPT) among pregnant women.
Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs)—these tests can be used in places with limited access to health care facilities or where malaria is epidemic. NetsforLife advocates for the increased use RDT’s in local communities to ensure accurate diagnosis, so that those who need drugs get them quickly, and the drug supply is not wasted.
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