Making Progress

The Measles Initiative is willing to distribute Insecticide Treated Nets. The Measles Initiative has completed several successful trials that all show they can easily add ITNs. In fact, the Measles Campaigns achieved the highest coverage rates of ITNs ever recorded, at the lowest cost per net distributed. The Measles and Malaria (M & M) trials had many partners, including Rotarians Against Malaria .

The Roll Back Malaria Initiative aims to put a insecticide treated mosquito net within reach of 80% of the children by the end of the decade. The Measles Initiative reaches one country per month, on average.

1. The Measles Campaign could accomplish or exceed the Roll Back Malaria goal of full coverage with nets within 3 years practically by itself, simply by adding Insecticide Treated Nets to its campaigns.
2. Many groups also distribute ITNs. Full coverage of all children and pregnant women could conceivably be accomplished in under 3 years, rather than 7+ years hoped for by Roll Back Malaria. Saving thousands of lives in the process.
3. Distributing ITNs as an 'add on' to the Measles Campaigns lowers costs to a fraction of prior projections.

Why is ITN coverage so important? Malaria has been repeatedly proven to be a lynchpin disease. Lowering malaria addresses several other problems. Yes, providing bednets would lower the sickness from malaria by about half. In addition, full coverage of nets would:

1. Save 250,000 lives annually from malaria.
2. Save 700,000-1,250,000 million more lives per year in Africa from other diseases (Studies consistently show a 20-30% decline in child mortality overall from ITNs, even without adding medicines).
3. Cut all hospital visits by 25-40%, freeing up funds and personnel to be redirected strategically at other health problems, such as HIV/AIDS and TB.
4. Free up energy of families, health care workers and whole countries.
   

Note: The Measles Initiative already adds selected other inputs such as medicines and vitamins. Including certain other inputs could save yet another 100-500,000+ lives a year.

Bottom line: Providing Insecticide Treated Nets sets off a virtuous cycle.

IPT

IPT stands for Intermittent Preventative Therapy. As recently as 2000, the WHO recommended intermittent treatment with anti-malarials as a routine part of antenatal care. IPT can be given safely to pregnant women, dramatically lowering malaria. Early tests showed IPT for infants, aka IPTI, also quite effective at reducing malaria in infants. Large-scale tests are underway to assure that the medicines for prevention do not do harm in the process.

Meanwhile, tests that administered IPT to the rest of the vulnerable group, children under age 5, showed marked reductions in malaria. The idea is to reduce and eventually remove the “human reservoir” as a step to reducing malaria overall.

It is easier to improve the health of a sick child in a healthy community than to keep a healthy child healthy in a community where disease and death is commonplace, indeed rampant.

Reporting on Progress

Progress Report by GFATM (Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria) as a pdf

Red Cross Adds Insecticide Treated Nets to Measles Vaccine Campaign
In Engligh (pdf)
In French (pdf)
In Spanish (pdf)

Bumps in the Road--A Report on the World Bank and RBM (pdf)

WHO Bulletin
Distributing insecticide-treated bednets during measles vaccination: a low-cost means to achieving high and equitable coverage (pdf)

last updated 25 May 2006