Free ITNs – An Offer You Can’t Refuse

This week’s Fist Bump goes to VectorLink Ghana for working with and providing technical assistance to the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), part of Ghana Health Service (GHS), to successfully complete the country’s mass ITN distribution campaign. These campaigns occur every three years. The goal was to register at least 90% of all households in all regions and to distribute free ITNs to at least 90% of all registered households (1 net per 2 people).

Using the App, NetApp, installed on tablets, a registration assistant from the NMCP/GHS went from house to house and collected information such as the name of the household head, number of people in the household, house number/location, contact number, and ID card number. NetApp would then calculate the number of ITNs to be distributed to each household. A member of the household had to present their previously disclosed information to the distribution point attendant to receive their ITNs.

Insecticide resistance data and combined risks of prevalence, incidence, and mortality determined which nets each region received. In addition to standard and PBO nets, the NMCP/GHS also distributed new generation nets. Households did have an ITN preference and sometimes rejected types they did not want. However, this did not impact the overall campaign.

Social mobilization such as the use of community information centers and phone calls ensured a high number of households received ITNs. This campaign saw improvements such as reduced timeline: the previous campaign lasted almost two years (2017-2018) whereas this one took 14 months. The NMCP/GHS managed to better plan and mobilize resources despite overlaps with other key community-level activities. With VectorLink Ghana’s thorough technical assistance throughout the campaign, the NMCP/GHS exceeded their goal of distributing nets to 90% of registered households, reaching 95.7% instead.

Excellent work, VL Ghana!