The National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) on Thursday August 24th, distributed 2,500 bed nets in Central River Region- North and South, as part of activities marking the commencement of a eight-day nationwide mass bed net-dipping campaign.

The campaign aims at reducing the incident of malaria related cases in the country and was funded and supported by the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, and Gamcel under auspices of the NMCP.

Speaking to the Daily Observer at the commencement of the exercise in CRR, Karamba Keita, Regional Health Care Officer for CRR, said the exercise is geared towards combating malaria cases in the country.  He added that malaria which is an endemic disease mostly affects pregnant women and children, under five during the rainy season when there is high population of adult mosquitoes that are responsible for transmitting the malaria parasite from one person to another. 

Mr Keita revealed that CRR has been one of the regions blessed with 2500 bed nets which are eye-marked for pregnant women and children under five years. He noted that pregnant women and children under five years are much more susceptible to malaria and then noted that’s why the strategy focuses on this category of people.

The dipping exercise starts with the conventional nets which are locally sewn nets and then the “LLN” nets, which are made in factories with chemicals that last for a minimum of four years and can be washed without the eradication of the chemical.

Mr Keita posited that his region has mobilised the community through their primary health care system set-up with the public health officers and the community health care nurses (CHN) to sensitise the communities.

“This year, what we want to inculcate in people is that, most of these jobs cannot all be done by government alone. That is why we are trying to capacitise the public by training them to dip their own bed nets by themselves,” he said.

Keita expressed delight with the commitment of his field staff and their endeavours in cooperating with him at all times.

On their constraints, he noted that mobility in CRR is one of the major problems they encounter in facilitating this kind of programmes, adding that one of the features that distinguish CRR and other regions is the division of the region which is a natural phenomenon.