Mosquito nets provided for more than 158,000

A programme to distribute 60,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets to thousands of households in Kikimi, an outlying district of Kinshasa, was launched on Monday by the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in cooperation with the United Nations Children's Fund.

An integral component of the six-month programme, which will benefit 158,166 individuals, will involve the training of community workers in the installation of the nets and the application of insecticide to them. Public education efforts will include door-to-door demonstrations and theatrical presentations.

Kikimi was chosen because of the presence of health agencies involved in fighting malaria in the region, efforts in which children less than five years and pregnant women are targeted.

The Kikimi programme is part of the global "Roll Back Malaria" initiative, which seeks to halve the world's malaria burden by 2010. Over 300 million cases of are estimated each year, resulting in more than a million deaths. Of these deaths, 90 percent occur in sub-Saharan Africa where most of the victims are children under five. Pregnant women are also especially vulnerable.

Malaria impedes economic development. The initiative emphasises four strategies to take effective, sustainable action against malaria by focusing on providing prompt access to effective treatment; preventing and controlling malaria during pregnancy; promoting the use of impregnated mosquito nets as a means of prevention; and dealing effectively with malaria in emergencies and epidemics situations.

For more information on the Roll Back Malaria initiative, go to http://www.rbm.who.int/newdesign2/