Achieving, Tracking, and Maintaining High ITN Coverage: Community Strategies

Through 20 awards to 18 partners in 12 countries, the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) supported efforts of communities and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to combat malaria at the local level. The MCP increased local ownership of malaria control for the long term in partnership with communities and National Malaria Control Programs (NMCPs). The program also extended coverage of PMI and NMCP interventions to reach a larger beneficiary population. Achieving universal coverage of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) was a key goal of the MCP, and partners worked to increase access to ITNs, monitor and track ITN ownership and use, and ensure proper use of ITNs. MCP partners used a variety of strategies to increase access to ITNs, including advocating with agencies procuring and providing nets, assisting in community-based distribution, and providing data on ITN coverage to support requests for additional net distribution. Partners also worked with volunteers and community leaders to register beneficiaries and distribute nets door to door, ensuring that distributors did not overlook or exclude any households. Monitoring and tracking ITN ownership and use was also a key component of the MCP. Partners used routine monitoring to assess progress toward goals, make key management decisions, and advocate with partners for increased net supplies and changes to policies. Community presence and close collaboration with community leaders and volunteers enabled accurate counts of households, sleeping spaces, and the number of nets in use. The MCP made significant contributions to national efforts to identify gaps in ITN coverage, distribute ITNs, and monitor their use. Partners worked with multiple stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health (MOH), communities, and other local stakeholders, to support efforts to distribute, promote effective use, and maintain ITNs. The program's focus on community-based distribution and monitoring helped to increase ITN coverage and ensure that nets reached their target population. According to data collected by MCHIP, MCP partners distributed a total of 486,778 ITNs, with some partners distributing as many as 184,000 nets. The distribution of ITNs was often linked to other health services, such as antenatal care and immunization clinics, and was also targeted to vulnerable populations, such as those living with HIV/AIDS. The MCP's focus on community-based distribution and monitoring helped to increase ITN coverage and ensure that nets reached their target population. The MCP's efforts to increase ITN coverage and ensure proper use of ITNs were successful, with ITN ownership increasing in nearly all MCP project areas. Final coverage estimates in project areas were significantly higher than national estimates, even where project baseline coverage was lower than national averages. The program's focus on community-based distribution and monitoring helped to increase ITN coverage and ensure that nets reached their target population. The MCP's success in increasing ITN coverage and ensuring proper use of ITNs was due in part to the program's focus on community-based distribution and monitoring. Partners worked closely with community leaders and volunteers to register beneficiaries and distribute nets door to door, ensuring that distributors did not overlook or exclude any households. The program's focus on community-based distribution and monitoring helped to increase ITN coverage and ensure that nets reached their target population. The MCP's efforts to increase ITN coverage and ensure proper use of ITNs were also supported by the program's focus on behavior change communication (BCC). Partners used innovative, context-specific BCC methods to promote the use of ITNs and ensure that nets were used properly. The program's focus on BCC helped to increase ITN coverage and ensure that nets reached their target population. Overall, the MCP's efforts to increase ITN coverage and ensure proper use of ITNs were successful, with ITN ownership increasing in nearly all MCP project areas. The program's focus on community-based distribution and monitoring, as well as its focus on behavior change communication, helped to increase ITN coverage and ensure that nets reached their target population.