BED NETS INSTALLATION CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT MALARIA IN GHANA
The Adakum Educational Foundation, (www.admef.org) is launching an ambitious project to acquire and install treated mosquito nets in the homes of school children throughout Ghana, starting with the L&A Academy school community of Mallam, Accra, the capital of Ghana.

Campaign Slogan: “DON’T JUST GIVE THE NETS; HANG THEM UP!”

• The objective of this project is to improve the capacity of the school children, their parents, and communities to maintain mosquito-free sleeping surroundings and significantly reduce malaria-related deaths.
• Unlike the current clinic distribution methods, the bed nets distribution will be done in the schools, and technical assistance will be offered in the form of volunteers to visit the homes to help install the right types of nets for the families.
• Unit Cost: $11 per net (includes, net, sprays, volunteer stipend, and accessories to hang up the net). Average family requires 3 bed nets (assumes 2 people will sleep under one net)
• Foundation will engage teachers in the elementary schools in Ghana to form an organization to be called “Teachers Against Malaria Epidemic (TAME)”, to continue the work throughout the country.

PROBLEM DEFINITION:

• Giving bed nets with instructions in English, French and Chinese, to families who cannot read or write does not help them.
• Bed nets are distributed, “unannounced”, at community clinics that treat poor mothers and their children; it is by sheer luck that one gets the net.
• One bed net is given to a mother without regard to the number of siblings and other family members in the household.
• No determination is made to see if the mothers have the means to install them
• No consideration is given to the fact that majority of Africans young boys and girls sleep on floor mats, and those who sleep on beds, have no bed posts to hang nets.
• Many adults hold strong superstitions about sleeping under those white colored nets; they claim to see ghosts, or shadows standing over them when they awake from sleep. Other colored nets must be considered.

PROPOSED ACTIVITIES

• The Adakum Foundation will organize a team of Local and International volunteers, made up of teachers, college students and young professionals.
• The Foundation will provide these volunteers with the bed nets and the accessories they will need to install the nets.
• The volunteers, working in pairs, will visit the homes of each school child to install the nets for their families.
• The teachers in the participating schools will be organized into teams of local project leaders who will lead the volunteers.
• A survey will be done to determine the family sizes and their sleeping quarters.
  Armed with the result of the survey, the volunteers will go to the homes of the families with the appropriate bed nets and accessories to do the installation.

EDUCATIONAL COMPONET:

• The volunteers will teach the families how to keep mosquitoes free homes.
• They will educate the adults with superstitions to overcome their taboos.
• The children will be educated about the dangers of malaria and the benefits of sleeping under bed nets.
• The school children will be asked to help educate their parents on the benefits of bed nets.
• Entire communities will be engaged in monthly voluntary environmental clean up of gutters, open lots and standing waters.

WHAT $11 DONATION CAN BUY:

• Purchase bed net in Accra
• Accessories: hooks, screws, masks, posts, etc
• Stipend for (2) volunteers/teachers per household
• One month supply of anti-mosquito agents (sprays)
• Printed Educational material
• Project Administration: (planning, data collection, transportation, travels, monitoring and evaluation, etc)

STAKEHOLDERS

• The Adakum Foundation, New York
• Sponsors and donors
• The Local Chiefs of the community.
• The community residents.
• The Parents Associations
• Ghana Ministries of Health and Education

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

• You can donate money to purchase the nets to save an average family of 6
• You can help secure free mosquito nets from institutions such as UN, and Malaria No More
• You can organize your friends, churches, schools and other civic organizations to raise funds.
• You can plan a trip to Ghana, alone or with your friends, school, church or co-workers to have a hands-on experience installing the nets.

Please help us help the African natives fight this deadly epidemic.

BED RETRO-FIT SOLUTION:
Volunteers will identify those children and families who have and sleep on regular wooden/metal beds without bed posts. The Foundation will provide the volunteers with the necessary four wooden/metal poles to retro-fit the beds to enable the families to hang the rectangular treated bed nets over their beds. (See pictures below)

CEILING HOOKS SOLUTION:

The Foundation will provide the nets and the technical assistance, hooks, screws and all the necessary accessories for the volunteers to install ceiling hooks that can be used to hang the oval shaped treated bed nets over the beds, mats or mattresses for the families (See pictures below)