Malaria is a primary cause of death of children in Yirimadjo. Each year, malaria kills more than one million people, most of them children living in sub-Saharan Africa. Sleeping under insecticide-treated bed nets can dramatically reduce the risk of infection, and would decrease number of child deaths from malaria. To address this crisis, the Community Action Committees of Yirimadjo have collaberated with the Project Muso team to develop the Community Based Malaria Prevention Program.  The goals of the program are:

1. to provide education about malaria prevention, and;
2. to provide universal bednet coverage to all community members.

In May 2011, with support from The Against Malaria Foundation; the Conservation, Food & Health Foundation; and Rotary International Future Visions, Project Muso aims to procure and deliver enough long lasting, insecticide treated bednets to cover every bed in Yirimadjo, creating one of the first universal coverage zones in the region. 

Since 2007, Project Muso has delivered bednets at eight distribution points in Yirimadjo in collaboration with local and community partners.  All net distributions have occured in close collaboration with the Yirimadjo Community Health Center and the Community Action Committee.  Project Muso Community Health Workers, and the network of Community Health Promoters trained through our education program have been vital to this effort, efficiently distributing and organizing teaching and training for the community.

Project Muso's Community Health Promoters have distributed more than 1,700 bed nets to date. Community Health Promoters teach essential skills in the prevention and treatment of malaria via:

• original theater pieces at community wide performances;
• one-on-one trainings with each community member who receives a net, and;
• complementary training with community members in their homes. 

In December 2007, Health Educators also worked with the Yirimadjo Community Health Center to help distribute several thousand additional nets through the Integrated Campaign, sponsored by several international partners, including the Canadian Red Cross; the Canadian International Development Agency; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Malaria No More; Population Services International; the President’s Malaria Initiative; the Roll Back Malaria Partnership; and the UN Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign. 

To date, Community Health Workers have provided home-based outreach to ensure that pregnant women and children have access to bednets, the nails to hang them, and the information to put them to use every night. For the first time in Yirimadjo history, all community members will soon have access to free high quality bednets.