Red Cross and Red Crescent community-based volunteers involved in the fight against malaria play a critical role in the effort to increase usage of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets, says the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on the occasion of the first World Malaria Day to be marked on April 25.

Preliminary results from a recent survey conducted in the West African state of Sierra Leone by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after a countrywide Red Cross distribution of mosquito nets in November 2006 shows that there is a 23 % increase in net usage following a single visit by a community-based volunteer to hang and promote net usage. "Malaria remains a major threat for 3.2 billion people in more than 107 countries throughout the world," says Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro, president of the International Federation. "The Sierra Leone survey clearly shows how Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies involved in the fight against malaria can make a difference to achieve lasting results," he adds.

Last year, Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies worked in partnership to distribute 2.5 million long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, including 1.8 million in Mali and 490,000 in Madagascar. In 2008, they will deliver some 1.5 million nets targeting 2.2 million children in India, Togo, Mozambique, Malawi, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Central Africa Republic, Nigeria, and Rwanda.

"We are supporting the distribution of nets in partnership but the role of Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers goes far beyond distribution," explains Jason Peat, senior health officer for malaria at the International Federation in Geneva. "Immediately following a mass distribution and again before the start of the rainy season, our volunteers go door-to-door to households that received a net to make sure that it is properly hung and that children under five and pregnant women sleep under it. If there is a newborn or newly pregnant woman in the household, the volunteer refers the family to the nearest health facility to receive a new net and teaches the family how to use the net."

"It is through this kind of community-based efforts that Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies can make a major contribution to the fight against malaria which kills more than 3,000 children every day in the world," concludes Jason Peat.

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