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Help donate a net to those worst hit by malaria

This is aimed at donating long lasting insecticide treated nets to 150 homes in a rural community in Nigeria. You will help an infant live longer by helping.

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Help donate a net to those worst hit by malaria

Help donate a net to those worst hit by malaria

Help donate a net to those worst hit by malaria

Help donate a net to those worst hit by malaria

Help donate a net to those worst hit by malaria

This is aimed at donating long lasting insecticide treated nets to 150 homes in a rural community in Nigeria. You will help an infant live longer by helping.

This is aimed at donating long lasting insecticide treated nets to 150 homes in a rural community in Nigeria. You will help an infant live longer by helping.

This is aimed at donating long lasting insecticide treated nets to 150 homes in a rural community in Nigeria. You will help an infant live longer by helping.

This is aimed at donating long lasting insecticide treated nets to 150 homes in a rural community in Nigeria. You will help an infant live longer by helping.

Promise Okeke
Promise Okeke
Promise Okeke
Promise Okeke
1 Campaign |
Minneapolis, United States
$745 USD 18 backers
17% of $4,200 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

Short Summary

The statistics behind malaria are quite horrifying. Although the statistics and facts provoke my sympathy, I am moved not just because of the numbers but also because of my personal experience with malaria. My younger brother almost lost his life at birth and was eventually born with a low birth weight which adversely affected his early development. The reason for this, as experts pointed out at the time, was a result of my mother having malaria during pregnancy. Throughout childhood, I struggled with malaria often and spent extensive periods of time admitted to the local clinics. These challenges my family and I have had to face with malaria have consequently shaped a resolve in me to help find a solution to the disease that is only next to HIV/AIDS in its perilous prevalence. My name is Promise Okeke, I am a junior premed major at Augsburg College, Minnesota. This winter break, I will be working with a community clinic in Neni, a rural community in Anambra State, Nigeria, which is affiliated with Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, for three weeks (12/20/2013 – 1/09/2013). My duties will include conducting weekly seminars on prevention and control of malaria, and organizing canvassing efforts, with the help of hired personnel, to distribute long lasting insecticides treated nets (LLINs) to over 150 homes. During the canvassing efforts to distribute nets, we plan to additionally have home residents fill out questionnaires that will enable us know the following: how knowledgeable they are about LLINs, how many of them use them, what the hindering factors from using LLINs are, and what their opinions are about nets. We also plan to investigate the presence of risk factors at residential homes, including the presence of stagnant waters, and make recommendations to both residents and the local community clinic on measures towards prevention and control. To analyze the impact of this project, the community clinic and I will be monitoring the number of reported cases of malaria to the clinic four months after the end of the project. We eventually plan to publish our findings in a local journal.

The personnel I plan to work with will be made up of only young people (about ages 18 to 25). It is my belief that African youths have a role to play in the curbing of malaria in Africa and as such there is a need to make concerted efforts to enable them to see this alluring responsibility. I envision having a ten-personnel team. I particularly target unemployed youths who are passionate about making a change in their community. My hope is to have five males and five females in my team. This balance is aimed at encouraging women, who have been most often marginalized in the African culture. 

What We Need & What You Get

Item

Quantity

Unit Cost

Subtotal

Flight Expenses (Roundtrip)

1

2800

2800

LLINs

150

10

1500

Staffers Wages

10

200

2000

Wages (40 hrs/wk for 3 wks)

1

700

700

Total Grant Request

   

$7000

Flight Expenses

Airfare has been established off current commercial travel pricing and is expected to soar within coming weeks, as has historically been the case near Christmas season.

Long-Lasting Insecticides Mosquito Nets

Established off current market price of a single LLIN. I plan to donate a single net per household largely due to funding constraints. Although one may argue that 1 net per home is not enough, an argument I resonate with, our target are infants below the age of 5, as they are most susceptible; and most of the families usually do not have more than two infants at a time.

Staffers Compensation

This is in regards to the wages to be paid to ten youths I plan to work with throughout my stay at this local community. Although the wages are not very lucrative, the staffers understand that the project is more of a volunteer than an actual job. 

Wages

This involves personal expenses, including my transportation during my duration in Nigeria, room and board. 

*At the moment, I have raised funds for my flight expenses, so I only need funding for my other expenses.

For each $20 dollars you donate, you will receive a thank you note from a household in Eastern Nigeria that was touched by your contribution.

The Impact

According to United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs) have shown effective protection against malaria by reducing infant deaths by as much as 20 %2. Usually insecticide-treated nets are more effective than untreated nets, as the insecticides easily kill mosquitos and other insects when these organisms come in contact with the net. The insecticides also repel mosquitos, ensuring that they do not enter a particular house. Large bed-netting effort will put a dent in the mosquito population and thus curb the prevalence of malaria.  Although this approach has been effective, it requires that nets be retreated every six months, as the insecticides are washed off after every subsequent washing of the nets. Albeit this technical difficulty in the use of ITNs, higher effectiveness can be achieved if long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets (LLINs) are used. This is because LLINs maintain their effectiveness even after 3 years of no treatment. A testimonial to the laudable effectiveness of LLINs came in 2008 when the WHO recommended the use of LLINs for the prevention of malaria. The WHO is now putting in an extensive effort to implement a universal coverage of LLINs in malarious areas, including Nigeria. Although the benefits of bed nets cannot be over emphasized, implementing a universal distribution of nets to all malarious areas is very demanding primarily due to financial impediments. Even though the WHO has urged that LLINs be provided for free, distribution of nets still remains problematic as some of the malarious areas, especially those in Africa, are hard to penetrate. As the population in developing countries is increasing significantly, the need for prevention of malaria has become even more pressing. It is to this cause that I have decided to spend my winter holiday in Nigeria, providing bed-netting service to one of the most inaccessible parts of my home state. 

Over the past summer, I was at Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute conducting basic science research on the pharmacodynamics and pharmokinetics of current antimalarial drugs, including chloroquine and artemisinin. In addition, I have over the past two years been engaging in activities which have enabled me to enhance my leadership and analytical skills. I participated in the day student government council, where I served as the sophomore class president and helped make decisions on the effective distribution of funds to student activities. I also encouraged efforts to boost the college’s position on green energy in the near future. My engagements at the college campus have also included in me serving on the honorary degree recipients and commencement speaker selection committee, where I represented the student body and collaborated with the dean of the college and other college administrators in recommending candidates for honorary degrees to the college president. I also worked with the International Student Organization, where I served in the capacity of the vice-president. My achievements in the past year additionally includes working with the Undergraduate Research and Grant Opportunity (URGO) office to invite a representative of one of the top research institutions in the country (Scripps Research Institute) to Augsburg College. The visit to the college campus resulted in Augsburg now having two reserved seats in Scripps summer research program annually. These experiences have informed my capability and enhanced my confidence in the effective implementation of my anticipated project. Consequently I hope that this project will provide poor households with bed nets, as well as inform them better on prevention and control of malaria. It is my expectation that the project will enhance my background in public health, as I plan to attend medical school and hopefully help alleviate the health care system in sub-Saharan Africa.

Other Ways You Can Help

Even if you can't help with monetary financing, your efforts are needed to actualize this project. I am a strong in the principles of the six degrees of separation. So help me share this on your social network site, and by so doing you stand a chance of reaching to a potential donor. You can also share it with your friends, relatives, and any other person you feel can be of help. 

And that’s all there is to it.

Bibliography

1.  United States Embassy in Nigeria.Nigeria Malaria Fact File. Digital image.United States Embassy in Nigeria. N.p., Dec. 2011. Web. 26th Oct. 2013. <http://photos.state.gov/libraries/nigeria/48746...>.

2.  United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) "Health."UNICEF. UNICEF, 2 May 2003. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. <http://www.unicef.org/health/index_malaria.html>.

3.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "Insecticide-Treated Bed Nets." CDC, 09 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/malaria_worldwide/re...>.


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thank you card

$20 USD
A thank you card from a household in Nigeria
5 claimed

Thank you cards

$150 USD
5 Thank you cards from a household in Nigeria
0 claimed

More Thank you cards

$500 USD
10 Thank you cards from a household in Nigeria
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