Malaria Control Patrols

The strategy of the Malaria Control Patrols is to establish a network of 200 trained teachers, who each organise 3 malaria control patrols consisting of 20 students, as well a as a malaria control committee. At each participating school, the Malaria Control Teacher and Malaria Control Committee organise lessons and activities with the patrols. The students, who are in third to ninth grades, learn key messages about malaria: recognise the symptoms, seek treatment early, and sleep under an insecticide treated net (ITN).

The patrols then pass these messages on to the wider community. An annual competition rewards the best students, teachers, and schools for their efforts to promote community control of malaria. As part of the project ITNs are distributed to families. A Malaria Control Patrol member visits the families to offer assistance and information on malaria, including how to use and care for the nets properly.

Malaria

The project is working to reach 20,000 families in rural and suburban areas, including 5,000 pregnant women and 20,000 children under 5 years. As of 2011, 12,000 school children from 200 schools across the province are organised into Malaria Control Patrols who have distributed 40,000 ITNs, primarily for use by pregnant women and children under the age of five.