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By Phileas Jusu*

5:00 P.M. EST Nov. 29, 2010 | BO, Sierra Leone (UMNS)

A woman hangs a net, which will be used to prevent malaria, while a child watches in Sierra Leone. UMNS Web-only photos by Phileas Jusu.

While many Americans were watching Thanksgiving football games, United Methodists in this southern Sierra Leone city took to another kind of football field to save lives.

On Nov. 25, United Methodists joined government officials at Bo Coronation Field to launch a nationwide campaign to fight the spread of mosquito-borne malaria.

The United Methodist Church has joined with the Sierra Leone government and other international organizations to provide more than 3 million insecticide-treated bed nets to the people of Sierra Leone, where malaria is a leading cause of death. The campaign also is administering polio vaccinations, Vitamin A tablets and de-worming medicine to children under 5.

“That a church has taken malaria infection so seriously that it can invest huge capital to fight the disease is worth commending,” Dr. Samuel Stevens, Bo District medical officer, said.

Sierra Leone has the world’s seventh-highest mortality rate for children under 5, according to UNICEF. Most of those deaths, Stevens said, are the result of malaria.

The Rev. Francis Charley, a United Methodist district superintendent, and several other speakers emphasized the proper use of the nets to reduce malaria infection rates. Charley added that as The United Methodist Church supports the distribution of the nets, the denomination is fulfilling one of Christ’s ministries — healing.

He said church is about putting a human face to man’s daily challenges.

The launching of the Bo District’s net distribution begins with a march past health workers through the main streets of Bo.

Training 3,700 health workers

More than 320,000 bed nets will be delivered to homes in the Bo District in the coming days.

The United Methodist Church has also funded the training of 3,700 health workers and volunteers for the net distribution. In addition to helping distribute the nets, teams of volunteers are going house-to-house throughout the country to register the number of sleeping places in each to determine how many nets each family will receive. They then issue tickets for people to take to the distribution centers to collect the nets.

Each home will receive a second visit, this time from volunteers armed with nails, hammers and ropes to make certain the nets are hung over sleeping places and to educate families on their use. Teaching proper use of the nets is essential to the success of the campaign.

The Bo launching was one of several that occurred simultaneously in the country’s 12 districts as part of the twice annual “Mammi en Pikin Welbodi Week” (Maternal Child Health Week). Twice a year, the government’s ministry of health offers several free medical services.

Priority for government

A young boy stands with a net near a Sierra Leone home. Malaria is a leading cause of death in his country.

President Ernest Koroma, speaking at the launching in the northern city of Makeni, said that government takes the health of pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under 5 seriously.

The Sierra Leone government initiated the weeks of free medical care after the United Nations Human Development Index repeatedly classified Sierra Leone as the least-developed nation in the world. The country’s lack of accessibility to health care contributed to its low rank.

Bo’s medical superintendent, Dr. Almammy Koroma, said that situation has changed dramatically over the past few years because of the government’s intervention and the maternal child health weeks. Officials hope the net distribution will lead to further improvements.

Donations to the church’s Imagine No Malaria campaign can be made here.

*Jusu is a United Methodist communicator based in Sierra Leone.

News media contact: Heather Hahn, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.