GHEI Launches World Malaria Day!

A record number of attendees turned out for GHEI's 2-day World Malaria Day event, for what some community members called "one of the best GHEI outreaches ever!" An estimated 500 people crowded the Humjibre Community Centre on the evening of April 25th for a lively, interactive event facilitated by Aggie Obeng and Mensah Gyapong, GHEI's newly promoted Health Program Assistants.

Following a review of GHEI's picture-based malaria flip book, Aggie and Mensah invited the crowd to participate in bednet hanging demonstrations, like the one pictured on the left. Here, a mother demonstrates how she would put her children to bed under a bednet, including tucking the net into the mattress to prevent mosquitoes from entering. Aggie then posed some discussion questions, like "Who should sleep under a bednet?" and "What should you do if your bednet is torn?" and audience members eagerly rushed the microphone to give their responses.

After the discussion, the ever-popular GHEI-produced film United Against Malaria, directed and produced by film-maker Laconia Koerner and featuring the Humjibre CHWs, was shown. The health team then debuted a documentary short about GHEI produced by Fernando Sapelli and the People of Change project. Cheers and giggles rippled through the crowd as they viewed shots of the familiar people and places of their hometown. Community leaders beamed with admiration at seeing themselves on the big screen.

On the heels of this success, the health team repeated the outreach at the nearby village of Soroano 2 days later, where a record 300 Soroano community members attended the event (roughly 1/3 of the community). By the time the film started, it was standing room only, with people crowding the windows and doorways of the venue to try and get a peak. "I think everyone really responded to the participatory aspects of this outreach," commented GHEI Education Program Coordinator, Jen Artibello, "having audience members demonstrate proper bednet usage in front of their peers really seemed to engage people." Other attendees credited the film showing: "Ghanaians love films! Anything that includes a film-showing is sure to be a success!"

--Natalie Rich, GHEI Communications Director

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Proven Malaria Program Expands to New Village

Kojina is a small village of 360 people located about 2 km from the village of Humjibre, where GHEI is based. Before expanding our malaria program to Kojina, we first met with the village chief, Nana Adomakwahene, to present the idea and receive his permission. He understands the problems associated with malaria, so he welcomed the idea that we would provide bednets and help the people of Kojina protect themselves from mosquito bites. We then selected and trained two residents of Kojina to serve as Community Health Workers (CHWs) to distribute the nets and to educate the people of Kojina about bednets and malaria prevention.

In January, a baseline survey of Kojina’s 43 households was conducted by two health program staff and four Community Health Workers certified in Data Collection. The survey included questions about the number of bednets (if any) a household owned, the condition of these nets, knowledge of proper bednet usage, and questions to determine the number of sleeping sites in each household.

Some statistics on the population of Kojina from our data collection (before the distribution):

• 19% of children under age five sleep under a bednet

• 15% of the population sleep under a bednet

• 0 % of pregnant women sleep under a bednet

• 40% of households have at least one net in any condition

• 48% of children age 0-4 years had a fever in the last two weeks

After we completed the baseline survey in Kojina, we held a Malaria Outreach Event at the end of January to teach the community about malaria and bednet usage and inform them of our upcoming distribution. Nearly one third of the community—around 50 children and 60 adults—attended the outreach, which featured a showing of the GHEI-produced film United Against Malaria, a short drama encouraging people to seek medical help for malaria symptoms and to sleep under bednets.  The film was directed and produced by film-maker Laconia Koerner in February 2010 and features GHEI's team of Community Health Workers.

Thanks to a generous bednet donation from our partner Against Malaria Foundation, GHEI CHWs from Humjibre and Kojina hung 158 bednets in 44 homes in Kojina. Some days we started distribution in the early morning, and some days we went in the late afternoon to have a better chance of meeting people in their homes. We worked in teams of 3-4 CHWs going door-to-door to ensure that every household received bednets and flipchart education. At each house, two CHWs sought permission to enter the sleeping areas to begin hanging the bednets using the method most appropriate for that room and the number of sleeping sites. A third CHW met with the residents of the household and gave the flipchart education on bednet usage and care. After the bednets were hung and everyone viewed the flipchart, the CHWs demonstrated how to rehang and properly use the bednet.

With the distribution now complete, the two Kojina CHWs will begin follow up visits with every household in Kojina. During these visits, CHWs will help rehang bednets, mend bednets, and provide ongoing malaria education. Through continued education and assistance, we aim for universal usage in all the communities we support through bednet distribution and follow up visits.

For more information on GHEI’s Malaria Prevention Program, click here.

Stay tuned for slideshows and videos from the Kojina Bednet Distribution!

--GHEI Health Program Coordinator, Carly Edwards

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