Society for Family Health (SFH) Nigeria, in her effort to create change and enhance lives of the poor and vulnerable, received the grant from Global Fund to coordinate, plan, implement and monitor the Long Lasting Insecticidal Net (LLIN) replacement campaign in the State of Osun. The goal of the campaign was to contribute towards reducing the malaria burden to pre-elimination levels and bringing malaria-related mortality to zero. Target beneficiaries included the general population, pregnant women and children under the age of 5. The last time the campaign was conducted in the State was in 2013, thus the need to replace the worn-out nets.

SFH had an effective LLIN campaign management team and LGA coordinators deployed to all the LGAs. Campaign activities managed and coordinated were broadly divided into three, namely:

Technical activities

These involved training of campaign personnel at State, LGA, Ward and Community levels on roles and responsibilities during household mobilization and distribution, correct use of campaign forms/tools and harmonization of data.

Logistics activities

These involved storage, movement and distribution of LLINs, campaign tools and materials from State to LGAs to Distribution Points (DPs)

Demand creation activities

As the name implies, these included advocacy visits to political, traditional and religious leaders during all stages of the campaign to garner their support and influence for the promotion of LLIN use. Other activities included production and airing of jingles, granting interviews during radio and television programmes, coordination of community dramas and monitoring of all demand creation activities.

The distribution of LLINs was flagged off by the State of Osun Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori in the presence of major stakeholders from National Malaria Elimination Programme, Catholic Relief Services, Osun Ministry of Health, etc. The Managing Director of SFH, Sir Bright Ekweremadu, ably represented by Dr. Jennifer Anyanti was also in attendance. LLIN distribution flag-off events also held in all the 30 LGAs in the State.

L-R: CMD LAUTECH Hospital, Prof. Akeem Lasisi; State of Osun Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori; Director of Program, Society for Family Health (SFH), Dr Jennifer Ayanti and Commissioner of Health, Dr Rafiu Isamontu sitting under Net at the flag off ceremony of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets Replacement campaign at Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo on Wednesday 6th September, 2017.

The free LLINs were collected by beneficiaries at distribution points set up in strategic places; satellite DPs were also situated in remote/hard-to-reach areas for a wider reach and for better coverage.

The distribution of LLINs was threatened by the movement of rural residents to urban areas during the Sallah celebration and the verification exercise conducted for LGA health workers in the State. Despite these challenges, SFH recorded an overall LLIN redemption rate of 89.5%, which surpassed the set target of 80%.

By: Deborah Mker

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