Weekly Awesome Senegal: An Extensive Malaria Radio Program

By: Team TEWDU FM (94.0 rajo men oo Diaobe), PC/ Senegal

The TEWDU FM (94.0 Diaobe) Peace Corps radio program has completed the early stages of an audacious, eight show series about malaria. The series has at least three broad goals: to produce high quality mass media communications to disseminate educational messages about malaria; to  involve local health workers, theater groups, musicians, and the everyday listener in show production to increase villager interest and investment in the program; and to increase exposure to Peace Corps and foster a positive representation of Peace Corps activities across the entire catchment area of TEWDU FM.

The series plans to cover a comprehensive malaria curriculum with the following proposed topics:
1) a review of the Senegalese government’s National Malaria Control Program
2) the malaria parasite and malaria transmission
3) prevention strategies (other than an LLIN)
4) mosquito nets
5) symptoms and warning signs of dangerous cases
6) disease and treatment (general)
7) treatment of malaria
8) review

The Show

Each show is paired with a “focus village” within the catchment area of TEWDU FM, and that village receives two visits from volunteers around the time of the show. During the first visit, usually a week or so before the show airs, the team seeks to meet with the village’s health workers to review the curriculum for that specific show, to pretest individuals on specific curriculum points, to take fun audio clips from villagers, and to convene a focus group to listen to the previous show. The day after the show airs, the team returns to that same village to elicit informal feedback, to formally post-test the villagers pretested during the first visit, and to hold a formal training to review and emphasize the curriculum points presented in the previous night’s show.

Pending favorable weather conditions, shows are performed live, using a full script written with the help of a local health extension agent and the polished audio clips from the village of focus. For example, short PSA jingles used by the NGO Malaria No More (MNM) to remind listeners to use their mosquito nets has been one consistent element of each show. The MNM jingles use celebrities such as Viviane (a national sensation in Senegal) and Akon (an international sensation by all accounts), but for TEWDU FM shows, the melody of the jingle combines with the audio of health workers from the focus village.

The first two shows of the series aired on 03 and 17 of September. Initial feedback from the first two shows has been overwhelmingly positive, and the team hopes to improve on these early successes by increasing the involvement of the Senegalese health workers and local musicians and by collaborating with local theater groups. Recall and comprehension of the shows’ content has been mixed. Informal feedback shows that villagers sometime can recall specific points of information presented in the show, but when asked directly for recollection of specific curriculum points, it is unclear if villagers consistently add to their existing knowledge about malaria.

Follow-Up

The “clean up causieries” during the follow up visit to the focus ville are crucial opportunities to ensure at least a small group of the broad listenership has heard all the information presented in the show and has gained understanding of the presented curriculum. The team is making a strong effort to make these trainings as dynamic and effective as possible. For example, during the follow up visit of the second show, the team showed pictures of nematodes in tomatoes and humans to help explain microorganisms in general and provide a perhaps more common example of a parasite.

Next, participants were shown pictures of the malaria parasite. rapid tests were then explained and participants were shown an example of both a positive and a negative test. Village health workers then performed a new test, and the results were read later in the presentation. The villagers were shown a large picture of a female Anopheles feeding, and attention was called to the blood being drawn through the proboscis and the blood filled stomach. To clearly show malaria transmission, the team performed a simple demonstration. In its simplest form, one villager was given a small, clear plastic bag with clear water inside. This bag, it was explained, represents a healthy person’s blood. Another villager was given a bag with water colored by red juice and black ink from a pen. This bag, it was explained, represents the blood of a person sick with malaria (see the parasites coloring the blood?!). A third villager held the picture of the feeding Anopheles and played the role of the mosquito. The PCV played the role of the proboscis, using a straw to draw fluid from a sick person’s bag and to deposit the fluid teeming with malaria parasites into the healthy villager’s bag.

This scenario was re-explained and repeated several times to teach and emphasize different points relating to transmission. For example, what happens if both people in the scenario are healthy?  By combining the radio broadcast itself with a small group training and one on one interviews, the TEWDU team strives to help the focus ville’s gain maximum possible understanding of the content of its show.

Next time you come to the weekly and world renown Diaobe luumo, stick around for the next show. The third show in the series airs (in sha’Allah) on 01 october.

Weekly Awesome Senegal: Testing and Treating Rural Populations

By: PCV Ian Hennessee

This year Peace Corps Senegal’s proverbial malaria stomp has gotten a little extra ‘oomph’ with a promising new program of early testing and treatment called PECADOM Plus. The project was founded by Health Volunteer Ian Hennessee and his counterpart Cheikh Tandian and local doctor Ismaila Diop. The aim of the project is early detection of malaria of every community member in order to promptly treat malaria cases and diminish the number of malaria vectors. The approach is to train health workers and local village groups on active surveillance, testing, and treatment of malaria.

Cheikh Tandian treating a man who was too sick to leave his hut.

Each week, the health workers conduct village-wide sweeps, going from house to house to test, treat, or refer every potential case of malaria. Midway through the project, conclusive results are still not in. However, preliminary data show a greatly decreased incidence of malaria in targeted villages and a significant drop in cases of severe malaria seen at the health post. Fingers crossed and a great many of Inshallahs!

Ian initially designed this program to complement existing malaria interventions in this remote area of Kedougou. Though universal coverage and free medicines are available to the population, geographic, educational and financial barriers still prevent access to care. Malaria rates thus skyrocket each rainy season and only a tiny fraction of cases are ever seen at the health post.

An existing program of the Senegalese Health Ministry called PECADOM provides an incredible solution to many of these barriers. Health workers are trained to test and treat simple malaria in the most remote villages, a backpack and a small supply of medicines the only health infrastructure they need. Though this program removes geographic barriers by bringing the health worker to the village, innumerable cases of malaria remain untreated at home. Clearly there is a need to go even further, to bring the health worker to each and every household.

PCV Ian Hennessee at with a village care group after their first malaria training.

The “Plus” part of Ian’s PECADOM Plus project meets this need. It uses the PECADOM model to train health workers on home-based management of malaria, but trains them to go from compound to compound in order to treat the maximum number of malaria cases as early as possible. The work of the health workers is also facilitated by volunteer care group members who provide active surveillance in each of their compounds. This cooperation ensures that literally every member of the village is monitored for malaria and all symptomatic people receive testing and treatment.

This rainy season health workers are coming to the every individual in Ian’s health zone in Kedougou, no matter their educational level, financial status, distance from a health structure or ability to seek treatment. And, thanks to their proactive, comprehensive work, innumerable cases of severe malaria and future incidence have been and will be prevented.

Weekly Awesome Senegal: An Innovative Representation of the Economic Malaria Burden

By: PCV Ben Gascoigne

Kédougou is one of the regions of Senegal most heavily burdened by malaria. PCV Ben Gascoigne lives in a village of about 950 people 35 kilometers outside the regional capital into the mountains. Ben and his counterpart, Mamba Camara, decided to speak with members of their community about the amount of money they spent on treating malaria last year – a whopping 3,039,100 CFA or 6,078 USD. They hoped to raise awareness of the economic burden of malaria and motivate people to focus on prevention. Community members were impressed by the enormous figure but it was sometimes difficult to conceptualize the real value of such a large number.

To visually represent this figure, shortly after World Malaria Day, 196 sacks—3,039,100 CFA worth of rice—boldly lined the road between the community market and health post. Trained local youth, the community’s health worker, and local Peace Corps Volunteers demonstrated proper net maintenance, led discussions on the economic impact of malaria (e.g., money spent on malaria medication and consultations that could have been spent on food), and demonstrated how to change square nets to round nets for easy hanging. Participants learned that they could greatly reduce the cost of malaria to their families by sleeping under mosquito nets, seeking early treatment for malarial symptoms, and, for pregnant women, by attending antenatal care visits.

The Results:

• Over 70 community members were exposed to the net maintenance stations and many more were exposed to the rice sack visual display and malaria prevention messages broadcasted through speakers at the health post.
• 50 people were trained on how to sew torn nets and twenty-one nets with one hundred and thirty-five holes were repaired.
• 30 people were trained in net-washing and twenty-four nets were washed.
• 12 women were trained on how to transform a square net into a round net

Scaling Up

The success of the malaria Rice Sack Project in Gascoigne’s village in April inspired him and PCVs Ian Hennessee and Alex Piotrowski to scale-up the event to the regional capital of Kédougou. The event attempted to engage a larger number of PCVs in the region, raise awareness in the community about the economic burden of malaria and motivate people to focus on prevention. In 2010, Kédougou community members spent an impressive 4,466,000 CFA (approximately 9,000 USD) on malaria-related medication and consultations.

Children learn how to properly wash a bed net at the Kedougou Malaria Fair in Senegal.

On June 30, 2012, weeks before the incidence of malaria has been observed to spike at health structures during the rainy season, 308 rice sacks—4,466,000CFA worth of rice—lined a main road in Kédougou between the Kédougou Health Center and the “A Nos Morts” monument/public garden in the center of the city. PCVs managed stations that demonstrated proper net maintenance, lead discussions on the economic impact of malaria (e.g., money spent on malaria medication and consultations that could have been spent on food), and modeled how to change square nets to round nets for easier hanging. PCVs also taught participants to how make a natural insect repellent using Neem leaves (Neem lotion) and how to beautify mosquito nets with stencils of the leaders of the Senegalese Muslim Brotherhoods. Finally, a local theatre group, Gorgoru, performed skits that educated participants about the NetWorks-supported national routine mosquito net distribution at local health structures.

Twenty-six volunteers from all sectors joined together to ensure the success of the Kédougou Rice Sack Project. PCV Ashleigh Baker led the net sewing station, PCVs C.J. Cintas and Kyle Deboy led the net washing station, Piotrowski and PCV Marielle Goyette led the Neem lotion station, Hennessee and PCV LaRocha LaRiviere led the net modification and stenciling stations, and PCV TatHennesseea Nieuwenhuys was in charge of counting every person who attended at least one station.

The Results:

• Over 230 community members were exposed to the malaria stations and many more were exposed to the rice sack visual display.
• 19 people brought nets, 77 people were trained on how to sew torn nets, and 43 nets with 364 holes were repaired.
• 57 people were trained in proper net- washing and 31 nets were washed.120 were trained to make Neem lotion.
• 81 people were trained in net modification.
• 66 people were exposed to the net-stenciling 11 participants received a stencil on at least one net, and another 55 people observed the net beautification/stenciling process.
• Additionally, 124 people, some from the stations and some passersby, watched the theater performance about malaria, net maintenance, and how to obtain a net through the NetWorks-supported national mosquito net distribution at local health structures.

Participants and observers learned that they could greatly reduce the cost of malaria to their families by sleeping under mosquito nets, seeking early treatment for malarial symptoms, and, for pregnant women, by attending antenatal care visits.

PCV Ian Hennessee demonstrates how to transform a square bed net into a circular bed net at the Kedougou Malaria Fair in Senegal.

After a month and a half of preparation as the project approached, Hennessee, Piotrowski, and Gascoigne worked sunrise through sunset. The PCVs backs were sun burnt and arms were scratched all-over from stuffing rice sacks with dead grass. They made new friends through the theater group and realized the potential of volunteer collaboration. Gascoigne says he is excited to see the malaria work in PC Senegal and other countries across Africa grow and evolve through volunteer projects and the Stomping Out Malaria in Africa initiative. He is proud to be part of such a talented and motivated group of individuals.

The project created a lot of buzz in the city. The radio spots and rice sack visual sparked conversation about the economic burden of malaria. The data collected from the event is being reviewed and will be published along with a formal case study on PCSenegal.org and Stompoutmalaria.org.

Watch the video of Ben’s Rice Sack Project in his village below.

Weekly Awesome Senegal: Taking the Malaria Message to the Schools

By: PCV Chelsea Moeller

My name is Chelsea Moeller and I’m currently working as a Preventative Health and Environmental Education Volunteer in southern Senegal. I’ve been serving for seventeen months in a village of about 3,080 people located on the main road from Velingara to Kolda. My second rainy season is almost over, which means I have successfully lived through monsoons and barely avoided the wide variety of diseases and infections that flow through the streets and hide in the hallucinogenic greenery.  But what’s even worst than that, millions of deadly mosquitoes are alive and ruthless this time of year. Malaria is at an all-time high.

Carlos is a Malaria Hero in his community because he never fails to use his passionate caring nature towards spreading awareness to his people about this deadly disease.

A new program was introduced through Malaria No More called “NightWatch”, a six day curriculum about malaria designed for young teenagers.  The objective is to show the students that by keeping themselves safe under their mosquito nets, they’re keeping their dreams, goals, and futures safe too. Since the end of the school year was winding down and everyone was getting ready for their summer break, it seemed like the best time to implement the Nightwatch program. The objective was for the students to leave feeling prepared and motivated to take the necessary precautions against malaria when it’s at its worst. With a little help from my English teacher counterpart Moustafa Balde, the middle school health teacher Mamadou Watche, and the local health post worker Boubacar Diallo, we got straight to work.

I began meeting with the teachers in May to go over the Nightwatch program packet so each person had a copy of the curriculum and would have time to prepare. The next week we appeared at the school health club meeting and asked which students might be interested in participating in the program.  Once the health club was on board, we picked the two best students from the remaining classes judging by their attendance, participation and grade point average. By selecting these particular students, we figured we would have the most motivated group.

I met with my school principal to discuss the logistics of the program and what to expect from both the students and staff members. We decided the best time and place would be everyday from 12 PM-12:30 PM in the first empty classroom available. This way the students were already present at school and the curriculum would not intervene with regular class time. The students were motivated and honored to be chosen to participate, not only for themselves, but to be known afterward  as the experts in malaria prevention for their community.

Implementing the Program

The first day, thirty-two kids showed up. The three teachers and I did a brief overview of the entire week’s lesson plan and then ended the day with two questions, “Do you own a mosquito net? If yes, did you sleep under your net last night?” The following  day, we began with a discussion and analysis of the two questions. Only 3 students replied “yes”, they do own a bed net and “yes”, they did sleep under it the night before. Thirteen students replied “no”, unfortunately they do not have a mosquito net and therefore do not sleep under one. The other fifty percent replied “yes”, they do indeed have a mosquito net, but “no”, they do not sleep under it.  When asked why they did not sleep under their net, they had various responses like “it’s too hot”, “mosquitoes don’t exist”, and “the net make me claustrophobic”. Although I was surprised at their reasoning, these two simple questions helped me to better understand my students, their situations, and what I was working with. More importantly, it helped the students to understand one another and it created a sense of honesty within the group.

Mr. Balde, Mr. Diallo, Mr. Watche and I spent the next two days discussing the myths and facts about malaria with the Nightwatch students. Together, we brainstormed ways to combat this horrific disease in a united effort. The beautiful thing about this program was that it created a safe space where students felt like they could ask questions, share stories of sadness, loss, recovery and survival within their lives and the lives of their loved ones. It created a conversation where the students were able to do most of the talking instead of being lectured. For them to understand that malaria is a serious, deadly, yet preventable disease was a realization they came to themselves. When asking them if they personally have ever had malaria or if anyone in their families had it, every single student raised their hands. At that moment, the students took it upon themselves to declare they do not want to see this show of hands in the classrooms of their future children.

The next day, the students sauntered in the classroom and discovered a beautifully decorated mosquito net hung from the top of the classroom ceiling. We had received these “beautified” nets during our conference with Networks in April and I decided, how best to demonstrate using a mosquito net than to have one on display in front of them? The hanging net was simply reinforced with local fabric which was sewn to the bottom and again around the ring at the top. This demonstrated an cheap and easy way for them to add their own style to their nets, thus enforcing pride and motivation when displaying it in their bedrooms.

Mariama Diallo stands under the net in front of her classmates and declares that her big dream for her future is that she wants to be a journalist.

After discussing the myths, facts, and questions about mosquito nets, we began our “Dream Banner” activity.  I passed out white fabric in the shape of a flag and had the kids use colorful crayons to design their flags. They used their imagination with pictures and words in order to portray their plans for the future. Each student took turns ducking under the mosquito net and presenting to the class their dreams drawn on their flag. Students shared a  variety of career goals such as police women, doctors, nurses, soccer players, scientists and even journalists. At the end of the presentations, we clapped and said in unison, “Mballen jam” which in their local language of Fulakunda means, “sleep in peace.”

The second to last day, the students took a nine question exam on malaria and bed net facts we covered all week. Afterward, a fellow Volunteer, Tristram Dammin, came to teach them how to make neem lotion, a homemade mosquito repellent made using exclusively local materials. At the end of the day, the teachers and I handed out certificates of “NightWatch” completion, along with a copy of their corrected exam and a sample of neem lotion to take home.

Beyond the Lessons

Once the next school year starts in November, I will be following up with the Nightwatch students in order to see how effective the program was and how much information they retained. I plan to do home visits and observe if their mosquito nets are being properly used. If not, the student and I will have a wash and repair day with the nets in their compound, along with a small interview about their mosquito nets and neem lotion to better understand the progress they’ve made towards behavior change.

After my home visits, I will gather the students back together and quiz them on the malaria facts we reviewed during the Nightwatch program and discuss their progress in education and prevention. I’ve found that the best way to encourage students to participate and stay motivated is with theatre skits, artwork, and games. We will be starting a Nightwatch club where the students can have fun while teaching in creative ways. They will be inventing their own malaria skits to perform for their classmates, decorating the classrooms with malaria educational murals and banners, as well as joining together after club meetings to play fun games. Not only are these kids now certified malaria prevention experts but they made a promise to be the good example for their families by sharing the information they learned and holding their fellow community members responsible in joining the fight against malaria.

Weekly Awesome Senegal: Bed Net Pride Project

By: PCV Sarah Kuech

My name is Sarah Kuech and I am Preventative Health Volunteer in an 800 person village in the Velingara district of Senegal. I came to Senegal in March of 2010. My primary focuses in my village have been analyzing medical records to better understand the needs of the community, and projects on malaria and family planning.

Village women view their peers posing next to their bed nets in photos that posted at the local health post in the Velingara District, Senegal.

Every year, hundreds of people are treated for malaria at my village health post. In 2010, the National Malaria Control Program implemented a universal mosquito net coverage campaign that included my district. However, during the first year of my service, I observed that most people did not sleep under their nets every night. The health post staff – Chief Nurse Marie Theres Sambou, Pharmacist Tentu Sabaly, Local Health Extension Agent Djibi Mballo – and I identified consistent bed net use as a significant problem within our community. In December 2011 when peak malaria season was winding down, we began to brainstorm ideas of how to promote bed net usage through a number of informal and formal meetings. This usually consisted of someone pitching an idea to the group then everyone discussing whether or not it was feasible.

In February 2012, I attended the Stomping Out Malaria in Africa Boot Camp – a ten-day intensive international malaria training in Thies, Senegal. During boot camp, Burkina Faso PCV Bridget Roby presented a malaria photo project that encouraged community members to properly use their bed nets. The idea behind the project is to give community members an incentive to use their bed nets and motivate those without bed nets to acquire one. Community members who are properly using their nets have their photo taken next to their net and the photo is displayed at the local health center. I presented the idea to the local health team and we decided to try the project in our own community.

To begin the project, Djibi Mballo and I visited all 44 households in our community to see who had been properly using their bed nets. If the community member had their bed net hung properly, we took a picture of him/her with the net. If a household did not have a net, Djibi educated them on how they could acquire one from the health post as part of a redistribution campaign. During the campaign, every pregnant woman on her first prenatal visit is eligible for a free net, and every person who pays for a consultation (no matter what their ailment is) is eligible for a 500 CFA (roughly $1) subsidized net.

192 photos of community member with their bed nets are posted at the local health post with the caption below, “We sleep under our nets to protect ourselves from malaria” in the Velingara District, Senegal.

After the pictures were printed, we posted them at the Health Post, along with a sign that reads in the local language, “We sleep under our nets to protect ourselves from malaria.” Anyone who comes to our health post now can see all 192 pictures posted. The people in the pictures are proud to point out their picture to anyone who comes to visit the health post. The project has also created an incentive for those who are not pictured to acquired a new nets for a photo.

Overall, I felt as though this project achieved its mission of promoting net usage and pride within our community. It also was a great way to reach out to everyone without nets and educate them about how to acquire a new net. The next steps in the project are to evaluate exactly how much more people are using their bed nets and how many more people purchased bed nets due because of the intervention.

Weekly Awesome Burkina Faso: Promoting Good Bed Net Usage to a Low Literate Audience

The pictures in card board box help explain good bed net practices to low-literate audiences.

Clarissa Pape is a health volunteer posted in the eastern region of Burkina Faso. Upon arriving in her village in December 2011, she noticed that most people in her community had mosquito nets, but many were not properly using the nets. She noticed that some people did not hang their nets properly, many nets had small holes that could be easily repaired, and some nets were used for completely different usages such as fencing or covering vegetables.

Since April 2012, Clarissa has focused much of her work on researching mosquito net use in her community and educating the population about proper net use. Her village suffers from a low literacy rate. In order to overcome this obstacle, Clarissa created visual aids to be used as a survey tool. She constructed two boxes: one box with a picture of somebody sleeping under a mosquito net and one box with a picture of somebody sleeping without a mosquito net. Clarissa asks women to place a stone in either box depending on how they slept the night before. Then, Clarissa and her counterpart discuss malaria transmission, prevention techniques, and treatment strategies.

Clarissa has seen a difference in the general use of mosquito nets in her village. While she is not yet ready to release her evaluation of the project, she is believes the general culture of bed net usage in her village has begun to shift. She notices that more people taking care of their bed nets and using them properly. She plans to continue her study and education campaign in the future.

Clarisse Pape’s counterpart walks around with the visual aids during an education session about malaria and bed net usage.

Weekly Awesome Burkina: Extending Malaria Education to Rural Populations

Gerard Gomes is a health volunteer living in a small village located in the central west region of Burkina Faso. Gerard works with a close friend in the community on malaria education around his community. His friend is not related to the local health clinic but is an influential social leader within the community with a particular interest in fighting malaria. By working outside of his health clinic, Gerard and his counterpart have targeted a population that lacks access to information about important health issues. The distance to the nearest health facility, damaged roads, lack of transportation, and pre-existing illnesses hinder this population from accessing adequate health care and information.

Their mission is to teach the community of how to they can protect themselves from malaria and to reduce the incidence of malaria overall in their community. In public discussions, they explain what the disease is and dispel any common misconceptions.  Their primary message is that malaria is a disease that we can prevent together, as a community. They explain the ways to protect you and your family from malaria and conduct demonstrations of proper mosquito net use. They also inform the community about where to find mosquito nets and how to properly repair mosquito nets that are torn.

Gerard and his friend are satisfied with the community feedback from the sessions and are optimistic about their community’s fight against malaria. They plan to continue their education program in their community and are hopeful to expand to more neighboring communities later on.

Weekly Awesome Burkina Faso: Working with Women’s Groups

McKenna Radunzel is an education volunteer living and working in a village in southwest Burkina Faso. McKenna works with a women’s association in her village. The association, consisting of 41 women, started to make mosquito repellent cream called neem cream.

The ingredients are all found locally within the community and include soap, shea butter, and the leaves of a local Neem tree. All of the materials are cheap and create a natural mosquito repellent that can be used in the early evening and mornings when families are not yet sleeping under their mosquito nets.

The women’s association is now selling the cream and making a hefty profit that can help fund other projects in the community.

Weekly Awesome Burkina Faso: Teaming Up with a Village Midwife to Combat Malaria

Anna Callaghan is a community health development volunteer living in a village located in the eastern region of Burkina Faso. Upon arriving in her village, Anna started to learn about the community needs by utilizing a series of tools she learned in pre-service training (PST). After a couple months of assessing the needs of the community, she discovered that malaria was a major problem in her village.

Baby sick with serious malaria at the local clinic.
Photo credit: Anna Callaghan http://annainburkina.blogspot.com/

A month later, the village midwife approached Anna with the idea to launch a malaria educational campaign. Soon, they developed a solid relationship based on the their commitment to malaria eradication. The midwife eventually become Anna’s primary counterpart in the community.  Anna and the midwife decided to focus their campaign on data collection of bed net usage while also educating the community about prevention and treatment. Over a couple months, they worked together to develop an community-specific education curriculum.

In the spring of 2012, they started visiting individual family courtyards to discuss malaria transmission, treatment, and prevention strategies. Anna and her counterpart have already visited 15 individual family compounds and have taken pictures of these families and their mosquito nets for increased incentive for mosquito net usage. Anna and her counterpart plan to continue doing these inspections throughout the duration of rainy season. Anna is very optimistic about the results of this campaign and the opportunity to expand the campaign’s message and audience. She claims that is it the enthusiasm and drive of her counterpart that makes the project a success.

Weekly Awesome Burkina Faso: Malaria Education Home Visits

PCV Michael Corcoran lives in a small village located in the Sourou valley of Burkina Faso. After attending malaria training with the president of his village COGES (the committee that serves as an intermediary between his local health clinic and the community), Michael and his counterpart decided to work together to develop a series of door to door mosquito net campaigns.

Together, they conducted over 40 education home visits throughout the community. At each house, Michael and his counterpart discussed the importance of malaria prevention and treatment with the families. They also provided community members with prevention techniques. For example, they explained recipes for making local anti-mosquito creams, conducted mosquito net usage demonstrations, and encouraged families to go local health clinic when malaria symptoms arise.

In addition, Michael reached out to not only the village residents but also civil servants such as teachers, thus extending the malaria education beyond village residents.

PCV Michael Corcoran visited this family and many others to talk about malaria prevention and proper bed net usage.