Millions of Nets : But are they being used?

ABSTRACT

The year 2010 was targetted at the 2000 Abuja Malaria Summit as the time when 80of vulnerable groups (pregnant women; children below 5 years of age) would be sleeping under insecticide-treated nets (ITNs).1 Subsequently the US President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) raised the bar to 85in its 15 focus countries.2 Most recently; the United Nations3 broadened the scope of ITN use and stressed that 2010 would be the year of Universal Coverage (UC). UC is variously interpreted in each endemic country and can mean one net distributed for each two people in the population to two nets per household. Ultimately it has been recognised that in order to reduce the burden of malariadisease; everyone should sleep under an ITN; or as now being used; a long-lasting insecticide-treated net (LLIN)