Against Malaria Foundation

The issue 

Malaria has an enormous toll on human health and imposes a heavy social and economic burden in low- and middle-income countries. 

For context, in 2020, an estimated 241 million people contracted malaria, but an overwhelming majority of these cases (95%) occurred in Africa. This resulted in 627,000 deaths – mostly children under the age of five. 

In October 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the widespread use of the world’s first malaria vaccine for children five and below in sub-Saharan Africa, which will complement existing preventable measures such as LLINs. 

Sleeping under a mosquito net, specifically a LLIN, is the most effective means of preventing malaria as parasites typically bite between the hours of 10pm and 2am. These help to prevent the pregnant malaria-carrying mosquito getting a blood meal and can lead to a dramatic fall in the malaria-carrying mosquito population and in malaria levels.

Against Malaria Foundation

AMF protects people from malaria by providing LLINs to populations at high risk of malaria, primarily in Africa. 

By the end of 2021, the organisation distributed 36.3 million nets to protect 65.3 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo and Uganda.  

For every 600 nets the Foundation puts over heads and beds, one child doesn't die, and 500 to 1,000 cases of malaria are prevented.

AMF have also reported that for every $1m spent fighting malaria efficiently they improve the GDP of the continent of Africa by $12m. 

Find out more about AMF here: Against Malaria

The project 

Croda Foundation has awarded AMF £100,000 to fund and distribute 45,400 LLINs to protect people when they sleep at night from the bites of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. 

To establish beneficiaries, the Foundation works with local health teams to assess how many nets are needed per household before they are distributed. 

The grant will also enable AMF and their partners to carry out monitoring activities every six months until 30 months post distribution to assess the condition of the LLINs and encourage net use to ensure the project has a long-lasting impact. 

This information will then help determine where additional community-led malaria education activities are needed.