Malaika Malaria Project
This is an in depth project by Malaika that will dispense 2,100 new bed nets to protect against Malaria. Malaria is endemic in this region of Tanzania and children and adults die daily due to this disease and its complications. Not only will Malaika distribute 2,100 new bed nets, they will educate the community, provide on going follow up, but they will also retreat old bed nets and treat the new nets with a insecticide that helps make the bed nets even more effective. The total cost for this project is above 12,000 US dollars but Malaika is only asking for our help with 5,075.00 Let's help them save lives. Click on the project to read a very in depth statement about the project.

Nyamuswa is a village of 9.200 people in rural Western Tanzania. The population is largely subsistence farmers. Twenty four percent of the population are children under five. There are no paved roads, and most transportation is by foot or bicycle. Malaria is the #1 health problem in the area. The official incidence based on laboratory testing at the local Ikizu clinic is 33 cases per 100 people, but over 50% of those cases are in children under 5. Malaria is deadly to children. In Nyamuswa, 2 out of every 100 children under 5 who tested positive for malaria died. Malaria is also a killer of pregnant women, who make up 8% of the population, and people living with AIDS. According to records from the local health clinic, there were an average of 541 cases and 2.4 deaths from malaria per month. This situation worsens in the rainy seasons, though there are a significant number of cases in the dry seasons as well. Official reports vastly underestimate the prevalence of malaria since many people simply purchase malaria treatment medications at local pharmacies when they get a fever and many more walk around asymptomatic. The death rate is also underestimated because some of the sickest people are brought to the Bunda District Hospital, 25 km away over dirt roads, and they die there instead of in Nyamuswa. Insecticide treated bednets are widely known to prevent malaria transmission of malaria.

Community research conducted by Malaika Project volunteers in 2004 found that the largest barrier to bedents in Nyamuswa was cost. Due to appeals from the local community, Zinduka and Malaika Project partnered to lauch a bednet distribution program in 2005. To date, we have distributed 600 nets. This grant from Choose-a-Need would be used to buy ITN, which will be sold at discounted prices or donated to the poorest families in Nyamuswa. The goal is to completely cover every bed in Nyamuswa with an insecticide treated bednet. By lowering the incidence of malaria in the entire community, the transmission rate by mosquitoes will be lower overall. This strategy of blanket coverage has been proven to reduce the incidence of malaria in other parts of Tanzania and has been locally endorsed in Nyamuswa by the WHO and local district government. The goal of this project is to reduce the incidence of malaria in Nyamuswa and save the lives of children and other high risk individuals by reducing the incidence of one of the largest local threats to their lives – malaria.
The Malaika Malaira Program has already distributed 600 nets towards it’s goal of distributing ITNs to every household in Nyamuswa. Bednets will be purchased directly from A-Z Factory, delivered to Nyamuswa, and sold for the low cost of $1.50 which is what local residents have said they can afford. Volunteers will distribute the bednets together with Zinduka and the local health clinic. The nets that we are distributing are long term treated with the insecticide impregnated into the material, and have a longer life and are are more effective than regular bednets. Together with Nyamsuwa Drama Group, the volunteers will conduct a retreatment day for existing bedents which are not impregnated with insectiside. This project will amplify our existing program, building upon our previous experience from launching the bednet distribution program in 2005 and starting the retreatment program in 2006. In our past experience, there is such a high local demand for mosquito nets that we have to turn people away since we never have enough. In addition, volunteers will conduct house to house follow up surveys and malaria education with the local village health worker and work with Nyamuswa Drama Group on community malaria education, focusing on early treatment for children who develop a fever. This program will ultimately reduce the incidence of malaria in the area and save children’s lives.