UNICEF begins distribution of 100,000 mosquito nets

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Burundi has begun distributing 100,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets for pregnant women and children under five. "UNICEF's particular strategy as part of the Roll Back Malaria [RBM] initiative targets pregnant women, and children between six months and five years old, because of the vulnerability of their immune systems and the subsequent higher morbidity and mortality rate from malaria," the UNICEF-Burundi information officer, Susanna Campbell, told IRIN on Monday. "UNICEF aims to reduce the deaths of young children and pregnant women due to malaria through a four-pronged strategy: early and accurate case management; the promotion and distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets [ITNs] in priority to children and pregnant women; presumptive intermittent treatment against malaria during pregnancy; and community mobilisation and awareness-raising for malaria prevention and treatment," she added. UNICEF is testing three different types of ITNs in an effort to find the best solution. A total of 60,000 long-lasting (insecticide duration of five years) ITNs will be distributed through Save the Children Fund-UK in Mwaro and Muyinga and by International Medical Corps in Kirundo and Muyinga. Another 23,000 ITNs (insecticide duration of one year) will be distributed through health centres and community health workers in the provinces of Ngozi and Kayanza, while 17,000 others will be distributed to vulnerable children in orphanages. Meanwhile, UNICEF is also providing antimalarial medicines in eight targeted health sectors: Ngozi, Gitega, Mwaro, Kirundo, Muyinga, Kayanza, Muramvya and Ruyigi. The development of UNICEF RBM activities in Burundi has been made possible with the support of the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office, the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance/US Agency for International Development and the Belgian government. The RBM initiative, launched globally in 1998 by the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, the UN Development Programme and the World Bank, aims to reduce the mortality rate due to malaria by 50 percent by 2010. The initiative involves a variety of actors and combines a multitude of strategies implemented at different levels in order to control malaria. In January, UNICEF reported that while registered cases of malaria in Burundi have been decreasing in recent months, the malaria epidemic identified in Burundi in October 2000 "has not been completely mastered yet". In 2001, a staggering 2.7 million cases of malaria were reported out of Burundi's estimated population of 6.2 million. For more information on the RBM initiative, go to: www.rbm.who.int