Nothing But Nets™ Net Distributions
How Do Bed Nets Get to Africa?
Once a net is purchased to save a child in Africa, how does it get to them?
To ensure that your net makes it from the factory to a country, to a village, and ultimately to a family, the UN Foundation's Nothing But Nets™ campaign works directly with the United Nations and its agencies.
The Measles Initiative, a partnership of the American Red Cross, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the UN Foundation, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), works with country governments to help organize in-country vaccination programs. Funds raised through the Nothing But Nets™ campaign are used to purchase and distribute bed nets during national vaccination campaigns.
In 2008, the UN Foundation also launched a partnership with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to protect refugees from malaria in Africa, where the disease is the number one killer of refugees. We work with UNHCR to deliver nets to displaced families in camps.
Which Countries Receive Nets?
This year, we are working with UNHCR to provide life-saving nets to more than one million refugees in 15 countries. To see a full list of the countries and to learn more about our partnership with UNHCR, click here.
Each year, the Measles Initiative coordinates with African governments to determine which countries will undertake an integrated health program. Countries are chosen based on the prevalence and spread of disease, the number of years since the last campaign, and the willingness and preparedness of local governments and Ministries of Health. This process is necessary to ensure that each campaign is efficient, effective, and sustainable.
After a country is selected, the Measles Initiative works with WHO, UNICEF and the local Ministry of Health to carefully plan and implement the campaign to reach as many children as possible.
Planning and Implementation
Once an integrated measles campaign is underway, mothers travel to designated vaccination posts, where their children receive a free, insecticide-treated bed net and measles vaccine (in addition to other critical child health interventions, such as a polio vaccine, de-worming medicine and vitamin A supplements). At each post, local health workers and volunteers educate children and their families on how the nets are properly used. This ensures that when they return home, the nets will be utilized most effectively to protect against deadly mosquitoes.
Follow-up surveys conducted after each campaign help measure success and make sure that no child has been left behind. These evaluations are often planned to take place just prior to the rainy season, when malaria rates skyrocket due to prime breeding conditions for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. This provides an opportunity to re-educate families on the proper use of the bed nets as they enter at an important time.
Sending Nets, Saving Lives
All of the planning, coordination, cooperation, implementation and education ensures that a bed net will make it into a mother’s hands, into a home, and over a bed to save the life of the child sleeping under it.
This entire process is accomplished for just $10. By simply purchasing a net through Nothing But Nets™, you set all the gears in motion to get a net to where it is needed most.
