On the evening of January 26th, over 100 spectators gathered in a field on the outskirts of Kojina for a malaria education outreach, featuring the introduction of GHEI’s upcoming bednet distribution and a malaria education film showing. Like many villages in this region of Ghana, Kojina lacks electricity, so GHEI relied on a generator to power the equipment needed to attract and reach a wide audience. Our Program Director, Clement Donkor, commenced the event at 7pm, explaining the importance of using bednets to prevent malaria. Malaria Program Manager, Mensah Gyapong, and CHW Manager Agnes Obeng, also spoke to the crowd about signs and symptoms of malaria, malaria treatment and prevention, and proper bednet use. Mabel Asiedu and John Coffie, both junior high graduates and cocoa farmers from Kojina, introduced themselves to the community as GHEI’s newest CHWs and Kojina’s resident malaria experts.
Following these introductions, GHEI showed the film United Against Malaria to the crowd of eager spectators. Directed and produced by U.S. playwright Laconia Koerner, the film was written and performed by Humjiibre CHWs in the local language, making it accessible to local audiences. After the film, Clement explained the logistics of the upcoming bednet distribution, in which teams of CHWs from Humjibre and Kojina would enter households to conduct the malaria flipchart education and hang bednets over each sleeping area. Kojina’s Chief, Nana Gyening, closed the event by encouraging people to utilize this unique opportunity to fight malaria in their homes and in the community.
This event marks the latest expansion of GHEI’s Malaria Prevention Program. For over a month, Health Program Coordinator, Carly Edwards, and the CHWs have worked tirelessly to create a GIS map of the village of Kojina and administer a baseline survey of Kojina’s 50 households, which will enable GHEI to distribute the 300 bednets donated by Against Malaria Foundation. This community-wide outreach kicked off the distribution by helping the people of Kojina understand why malaria is so dangerous and how bednets can protect them from this life-threatening disease.
For more information on our Malaria Prevention Program, click here.
--Natalie Rich, GHEI Communications Director
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