For years, The Hope Foundation invited families to our schools and gave them a FREE family size mosquito net. Why? Because about 3.4 million people - half of the world's total population - are at risk for malaria. In 2012, about 207 million malaria cases were reported and an estimated 627 thousand people died from malaria. Insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) are a form of personal protection that has been shown to reduce malaria illness, severe disease, and death due to malaria in endemic regions.
A few years ago, we changed the way we gave out these mosquito nets, but the change started with a funeral. Alphonce was an eight year old student at our school in Bomani, Kenya. He was a happy child and everyone liked him. His family came to one of our events and we gave them a free mosquito net. Later that year, Alphonce stopped coming to school so we began to investigate the problem. His mother brought him to school and what we saw shocked us all. He was just skin and bones and could not even walk by himself. He was bent over like he was an 80 year old man, and was in so much pain. We immediately took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and put on medication. We sent food to him and paid for his medicine and doctor's visits. He started to improve but within three weeks he died of malaria. We went to attend the funeral, and he was buried on his family land. As we sat and listened to the family and pastor give testimony about Alphonce's life and salvation, Lisa called my attention to their family chicken coop. Draped over the chickens to keep them safe from harm was the mosquito net that we had given the family. I was shocked and heart-broken that the net that could have saved Alphonce's little life had been used to make this chicken coop.
That day we decided that education was needed. Rural people needed to understand about malaria and how to prevent it. We would no longer just give out FREE mosquito nets, but we would hold talks about general illness prevention including malaria. We would no longer just give out FREE mosquito nets, but we would go out into the village huts and install them for people.
In community-wide trials in several African settings, ITNs have been shown to reduce the death of children under 5 years from all causes by about 20%. Through education and proper installation and use, mosquito nets save lives. The CDC reports that increasing the lifespan of Long-Lasting Insecticide-treated Nets (LLINs) will save $3.8 billion people over 10 years just by increasing the lifespan of nets from 3 years to 5 years.
The Hope Foundation is firm in its goal to help children and adults be protected against malaria and other preventable diseases. Would you like to help?
For as little as $10 you can help to protect a whole family. Just click on the "Donate Now" button above and follow the directions and choose the Project "Mosquito Net Distribution". It is as simple as that. We will do the rest and a family will be protected.
A few years ago, we changed the way we gave out these mosquito nets, but the change started with a funeral. Alphonce was an eight year old student at our school in Bomani, Kenya. He was a happy child and everyone liked him. His family came to one of our events and we gave them a free mosquito net. Later that year, Alphonce stopped coming to school so we began to investigate the problem. His mother brought him to school and what we saw shocked us all. He was just skin and bones and could not even walk by himself. He was bent over like he was an 80 year old man, and was in so much pain. We immediately took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and put on medication. We sent food to him and paid for his medicine and doctor's visits. He started to improve but within three weeks he died of malaria. We went to attend the funeral, and he was buried on his family land. As we sat and listened to the family and pastor give testimony about Alphonce's life and salvation, Lisa called my attention to their family chicken coop. Draped over the chickens to keep them safe from harm was the mosquito net that we had given the family. I was shocked and heart-broken that the net that could have saved Alphonce's little life had been used to make this chicken coop.
That day we decided that education was needed. Rural people needed to understand about malaria and how to prevent it. We would no longer just give out FREE mosquito nets, but we would hold talks about general illness prevention including malaria. We would no longer just give out FREE mosquito nets, but we would go out into the village huts and install them for people.
In community-wide trials in several African settings, ITNs have been shown to reduce the death of children under 5 years from all causes by about 20%. Through education and proper installation and use, mosquito nets save lives. The CDC reports that increasing the lifespan of Long-Lasting Insecticide-treated Nets (LLINs) will save $3.8 billion people over 10 years just by increasing the lifespan of nets from 3 years to 5 years.
The Hope Foundation is firm in its goal to help children and adults be protected against malaria and other preventable diseases. Would you like to help?
For as little as $10 you can help to protect a whole family. Just click on the "Donate Now" button above and follow the directions and choose the Project "Mosquito Net Distribution". It is as simple as that. We will do the rest and a family will be protected.
No comments:
Post a Comment