Insecticide-Treated Nets
Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) are a proven vector control intervention. The U.S. President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) has been supporting ITN distribution since 2005. PMI Evolve collaborates with national malaria programs (NMPs) on the planning, management, and distribution of ITNs through mass campaigns and continuous distribution channels, as well as ITN durability monitoring.
ITN Mass Campaigns
Mass distribution campaigns are when ITNs are systematically given out across a country or specific regions of a country and usually occur around every three years. PMI Evolve provides technical assistance for mass distribution campaigns led by NMPs in coordination with national, regional, and local stakeholders in-country. This support may include coordination, distribution, social and behavior change communications, community mobilization, monitoring and evaluation, and other types of assistance.
ITN Continuous Distribution
Continuous (or routine) distribution refers to additional channels for distributing ITNs. These include providing nets through antenatal (ANC) clinics and health centers, which offer health services to pregnant women and mothers of young children, who are particularly vulnerable to malaria. The WHO recommends that countries combine delivery mechanisms like continuous distribution with mass campaigns to achieve and maintain universal access to ITNs.
Another channel is school-based distribution of ITNs. In many PMI partner countries, schools have a good reach into communities, sometimes outnumbering health facilities within an area. School-based distribution has been shown to be effective in maintaining universal coverage of ITNs.
To learn more, see continuousdistribution.org
ITN Durability Monitoring
Durability is defined as the length of time ITNs remain effective in protecting users against malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, measuring both the nets’ ability to form a physical barrier and their insecticide effectiveness. Many national malaria programs in sub-Saharan Africa monitor the durability of ITNs to inform procurement and replacement decisions for mass and routine distribution, and to ensure that ITNs are providing protection in line with their assumed three-year life span. In its first year, PMI Evolve supported ITN durability monitoring (DM) survey rounds in 10 countries – Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Zambia. These DM activities generated valuable data on ITN performance to aid countries’ decision-making around future ITN procurement and deployment.
PMI Evolve uses World Health Organization-endorsed ITN durability monitoring resources, which are available at https://www.durabilitymonitoring.org/
Learn more about PMI's investments in ITNs.
