Friday, July 13, 2012

A Mosquito Net Among Friends

It is malaria season in South Sudan.  It is the rainy season, and the pools of water make great breeding grounds for the mosquitos.  We are seeing severe malaria cases in the the MSF hospital.  Many of these patients would have died, and many may still die of the disease.  There are several forms of malaria, and the one that is endemic here, is the worst kind.  So to help fight the malaria, MSF along with many other NGO's have handed out thousands of mosquito nets.  Some of our workers recently did a series of site visits to see how many people were using the nets.  The findings were pretty interesting.  They were being used for fishing nets, and for protecting young plants.  Some were being used to trap ants.  Very few were being used as mosquito nets.  It is all very interesting.  A question of priorities, but this is Africa, and life seems to be pretty cheap at times.  It may be worth the cost of a mosquito net.  A few cents.

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