Supported by USAID/President's Malaria Initiative and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), November's campaign was the last phase in a countrywide plan to achieve universal LLIN coverage. In just twelve months, more than seven million LLINs were distributed to reach this goal by the end of 2010.

Farmer Désiré Rakotoniaina, who lives in a village in central Madagascar were community health workers and volunteers conducted the distribution, is a huge fan of mosquito nets--he knows that using one can change a person's life. "In this village, most people work in the rice fields. We get up early and work until dusk. When people work that hard, they are vulnerable, so we need these nets to help us stay healthy. But although I am afraid of being bitten by a mosquito, it isn't just catching malaria that's a problem. Using a bed net means

Across the road lives Odette Ravaoarisoa. Odette's nine children have left home, but she remembers a time when malaria was everywhere. "Before we had bed nets there was always malaria, especially between October and March when the rain comes. In the 1980s and 1990s, all nine of my children had malaria. At that time, there was no health center here, and every time we had to travel 10km to Betafo for medicine. Using net means we stay in better health.
(Story by Christina Corbett, PSI)