Bedding accompaniment 'huge success' in sub-Saharan Africa
Published: 18 September 2009
Africans in a number of countries who struggle when bedding down for the night due to mosquitoes are now self-sufficient in their use of bed nets through a US-led initiative.
The sale of 50 million bed nets in sub-Saharan Africa through a humanitarian effort by the US government is now self-sufficient enough for the countries to be left to their own devices, it is said.At a press conference yesterday, the Academy of Educational Development (AED) revealed that its voucher system to allow poorer individuals to receive the nets for free or at partial cost has created incentives for private companies in the area to continue the scheme on its behalf.
The system of personal and bedding protection has reduced the price of insecticide-laden mosquito nets by between 30 and 70 per cent in the scheme's host countries.
Seven took part in all, including Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Uganda, Zambia, Senegal and Ethiopia.
"We worked ourselves out of a job. They don't need us anymore, and I'm proud of that," said AED's Juan Manuel Urrutia, the deputy director of NetMark.
"The voucher system is now entrenched."
British newspaper giant The Sun and its readers recently raised £50,000 for a similar bedding initiative in Nigeria.
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