Insecticide-treated mosquito nets ownership in Kenya drops by 14% — report

The 2020 Malaria Indicator Survey reports that ownership of insecticide-treated nets (ITN’s) has reduced by 14 per cent since 2015.

This is despite the efforts by the Ministry of Health to distribute free nets to those living in malaria-prone areas since 2015. 

Head of Division of National Malaria Program, Dr George Githuka said that net ownership declined to 49 per cent in 2020 as compared to 2015 where 63 per cent of households owned at least one ITN.

The report data indicated that ownership of ITN’s was high in rural areas at 52 per cent as compared to urban areas which was at 44 per cent.

“Since malaria is not evenly distributed in the country and with its high prevalence in the lake and coastal region, we have been doing a mass net campaign last year, and it is currently ongoing,” Dr Githuka said.

The mass net campaign is the mass distribution of mosquito nets to high mosquito prone counties.

“From our analysis, the mass net campaign has helped a lot of people in areas where the prevalence of the disease is high and areas of Kisumu, Siaya, Migori, Homa Bay, Kakamega, Vihiga, Bungoma and Busia counties,” Dr Githuka said.

Dr Githaka said the drop in ownership of ITN’s was affected by the onset of Covid-19, so the mass distribution that ought to happen last year in 2020 was postponed to 2021.

“We wanted to comply with the Covid-19 measures and did not want to counter for its spread, hence the less ownership. However, we will do the survey after the ongoing distribution is complete.” He said.

Dr Githuka said that there had been significant achievements recorded with the huge investments made by private partners and the government a lot of people benefited from the mass net distribution, in malaria-prone areas, as well as the Anti-Natal Clinics that give pregnant women the nets.

“It is one thing to own the net and one thing to use it, as we distribute these nets, we are urging the residents to sleep under the nets to save them from the adverse effects of this disease,” he said.

The Government targets to reduce malaria cases and deaths in Kenya by 75 per cent by 2023 as envisioned in the Kenya Malaria Strategy and so far, Kenya has managed to reduce the number of malaria cases seen in hospitals from an annual average of six million to 4.6 million.

Edited by D Tarus