Pregnant women trek miles for bed nets in Mozambique
25 April 2007 (Updated 01 November 2007)
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MDG 6: HIV, AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
In Mozambique, as in many African countries, malaria is a serious – and all
too often a life or death – issue. Malaria claims the lives of more of the
nation’s children than any other disease, and is a major cause of death
among pregnant women. One simple but effective measure against infection is for the child or expectant mother
to sleep under an insecticide-treated net.
Trials have repeatedly shown that bed nets save lives.
DFID and the Mozambican Ministry of Health have established a five-year programme to distribute free bed nets to pregnant women in high-risk parts of
the country. Ensuring that bed nets are available to all who
need them will be a major victory in the fight against malaria in Mozambique.
Walking hours for a lifeline: Emilia’s Story
 Despite
being seven months’ pregnant, Emilia Primeiro was not going to be stopped from
walking more than three hours to her nearest health centre in the southern rural
district of Jangamo, Inhambane.
“It’s my first check up, because it’s a long way to come,” says 27-year-old
Emilia in the local language, Xitswa. “I heard on the radio that because I’m
pregnant, I would be given a net. I’m hoping that the nurse will give me one.
I’m frightened of malaria.”
Emilia does not need to be persuaded of the realities of the disease. She
recently lost her only son, Filipe, to malaria. He was only two years old. “He
had fevers and then the next day he got fits. It was too late to carry him here.
He died at home,” she says, struggling to get the words out.
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 The treated bed nets are critical for rural dwellers like Emilia, with half
of Mozambique’s rural population lacking access to basic health care. Demand is
no problem; in the words of Nurse Berta Maleluque at Jangamo Health centre, “The
women want the nets.” Using a flip chart, Berta explains how to use the nets to
protect against malaria to Emilia and a group of other pregnant women.
It is around midday when Emilia begins her 20-kilometre trek to her remote
village in Madonga, clutching her bed net. “I am happy because the mosquitoes
are not going to bother me tonight,” she says, smiling. “And when my baby is
born, he or she will sleep with me under this net for two years.”
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More nets to more people in need
The results of the programme so far have been promising. As of May 2007,
292,565 free bed nets had been distributed through the public health service to
women in the target provinces of Inhambane in the south, and Nampula and Cabo
Delgado in the north.
But it is crucial that bed nets are available to all who need them. By November 2007, it is hoped that 411,000 bed nets will have been
supplied free to pregnant women and children under five. The continuation of
the programme will provide more people with essential protection against
malaria, giving them, as it has given Emilia and her family, a chance for life.
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Key facts
- More children die of malaria in Mozambique than of any other
disease, with malaria accounting for 60% of child paediatric hospital admissions
and 30% of hospital deaths.
- Malaria contributes to Mozambique’s high maternal mortality rates:
408 women die due to childbirth out of every 100,000 pregnant women.
- The climate of Mozambique favours year-round transmission.
- The Government of Mozambique aims to provide at least one insecticide-treated
mosquito net (ITN) to 95% of pregnant women and children under five in each district without a spraying programme from 2007
onwards. DFID will be assisting the Health Ministry to reach the
PARPA II target
 (26.3
kb) in Cabo Delgado by November 2007.
- DFID has pledged to invest £6.5 million over the period 2005 to
2008 to distribute nets to pregnant women and newborn babies.
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