By Nelson Manneh
Muhammed Lamin Samateh the Minister of Health said over eleven (11) million LLIN bed nets will be distributed at the community level of The Gambia and Senegal.
Hon: Samateh made these statements on Sunday, the 5th of May 2019 at the official launching ceremony of synchronized long-lasting impregnated mosquito net campaign by The Gambia and Senegal held in Farafenni, North Bank Region of The Gambia.
The mosquito net campaign brings delegates from the Gambia and Senegal who came together to fight against the deadliest disease in the sub-African Region, malaria.
Samateh in his statement said during the joint mass distribution campaign of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets campaign across the nations of The Gambia and Senegal over the next three months, over 11 million bed nets will be distributed free of charge to the population of the two countries.
The Minister said this is the known synchronized national-scale LLIN campaign carried out across two sides of an international border.
“In 2018 the Ministries of Health of Senegal and The Gambia signed a convention to foster collaboration towards the elimination of malaria across both countries. Dubbed ‘The Sene-Gambia Malaria Initiative,’ it has established a strategic vehicle to harmonize malaria intervention, collaborative analysis of epidemiological and entomological data, and promote best practice, particularly across the vast border communities,” he said.
The Minister added that they have also agreed to cooperate and coordinate with other technical and financial partners to develop evidence-based cross-border control strategy, and to continuously monitor and evaluate the performance of the Sene-Gambia malaria initiative: including resource mobilization to sustain this initiative from their respective governments as well as external donor partners.
Mr Samateh said the mass distribution of mosquito nets campaign demonstrates the level of commitment to the Sena-Gambia malaria initiative by the two countries.
“As we launched this joint campaign, we must remember that the malaria vector and parasite does not know borders. Therefore, it is only through join and collective efforts that we can eliminate malaria from both countries,” he said.
He added that investing in malaria eradication is about saving lives and reaping far-reaching benefits for our countries.
