By Lemuella Tarawallie
The distribution of bed nets has started in Kakua Chiefdom, Boama Chiefdom, and Nyaimbioma Section in Bo District, southern Sierra Leone.
The Ministry of Health and Sanitation, through its Malaria Control Programme and UNICEF with funding from Global Fund and USAID, on Thursday 2 November 2023 launched the Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLIN) and mass distribution campaign at the Bo mini-stadium in Bo City.
The distribution of the LLIN started on Saturday 4th and will this Friday 10th November 2023.
The aim of the launching and mass distribution was to make citizens realise that “sleeping under LLIN prevents malaria transmission up to 50%” and that it also “prevents malaria mortality in children up to 25%”.
During the UNICEF monitoring tour on Saturday 4th November 2023 in Bo City and in hard-to-reach areas the Community Health Officer in Charge of Nyaimbioma Community Health Centre in Bo District, Marion Mariatu Kargbo, told The Nationalist newspaper that though the distribution was for every Sierra Leonean; the most eligible were those who registered during the registration process and had valid voucher coupon(s).
She added that the registration process was transparent in the sense that if a person was the only one living in his or her house as a household head; s/he would have one voucher to collect one bed net. Similarly so, if someone was the head of the household in a family of two; the household would have one voucher and s/he would be given one bed net.
“And if they are three in a household, the head of the household will be given two vouchers to collect two bed nets; and if they are four in numbers the head of the household will be given two vouchers to collect two bed nets. But in the case wherein they are five in a household; the head will be issued with three vouchers to collect three bed nets and the maximum bed nets a household will receive is three”, she disclosed.
Marion Mariatu Kargbo told The Nationalist further that, “my health centre which comprises Nyaimbioma, Coronation Field and Moriba Town is targeting 5,900 beneficiaries”.
The Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS)’s Maternal and Child Aid at the Bo Coronation Field, Isatu Sandy before the start of the distribution on Saturday 4 November 2023 at her centre, told the beneficiaries that after every three months; they should remove the bed nets and wash them properly.
Isatu Sandy advised them that in the case where the bed nets got loose or torn; the beneficiaries should stitch them with a needle and thread to avoid mosquitoes escaping through.
The Community Health Officer at the New Police Barracks, Dennis T. Manga, told journalists, who visited his health centre during the UNICEF monitoring tour on Saturday 4 November 2023, that he had received 4,400 bed nets in his health centre.
He said before giving out the bed nets, they had told the beneficiaries during his “Health Tok’’ that after collecting them they should place them under shade for at least 24 hours or maximum 48 hours so that the potency of the chemicals in the bed nets could be reduced which would prevent pregnant women and under-five babies from being affected.
Dennis T. Manga told journalists that the main reason why he was giving the “Health Tok’’ to beneficiaries was for them to get proper knowledge on the use of the bed nets.
The Community Health Officer in charge of the Gerihun Health Centre at Boama Chiefdom, Esther Mary Titi Collie, told The Nationalist that they received 3,350 bed nets in their centre. She said during the door to door registration process, they registered 3,350 people, noting that the exact number of bed nets they registered beneficiaries for was the exact number she received in her health centre.
One of the beneficiaries who is a mother of an under-five child, Elizabeth Fonnah, told The Nationalist that she was happy to receive the bed net because mosquitoes would no longer disturb her and the rest of her household.
The distribution of the bed nets will end on Friday 10 November 2023.