AMF has added to its existing agreement with the DRC Ministry of Health and has agreed to fund 16.4 million nets for distribution in six provinces, Kongo Central, Kinshasa, Ituri, Tshopo, Haut Uele and Bas Uele, for distribution in 2023. These nets aim to achieve 100% coverage across all provinces, protecting 30 million people when they sleep at night from the bites of malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
Of these 16.4 million nets, the funding of 4.2 million nets is contingent upon AMF receiving the necessary funding during 2021 but we are confident this will be achieved.
The benefits of being able to commit now to funding nets that will be distributed in DRC in 2022 and 2023 are significant.
First, it allows our co-funding partner, the Global Fund, not to scale back its allocation of funding in the first two years of the three year funding cycle. Without confirmation of our funding, reprogramming would be necessary, including scaling back of interventions and delayed distributions. This would be required to spread funds evenly and avoid a significant lack of funds for the final year of the funding cycle. Any resulting delays to distributions mean that households have to wait longer than three years to receive new nets. In the third year, nets wear out and so delays extend the period during which households are less well protected which can lead to malaria resurging.
Second, it gives the DRC Ministry of Health time to plan. A three-year rolling nationwide malaria control campaign, covering an area the size of Spain, France, Germany, Sweden and Norway combined, or 25% of the USA land area, is a major logistical and planning exercise. The country’s resources can be focused on implementing the campaign, rather than on updating plans due to lack of funding.
DRC is one of the two most malarious countries in the world with malaria responsible for the deaths of at least 80 children under 5 each day in DRC alone, with high incidence levels seen across the majority of the country.
These nets have the potential to play a major part in reducing deaths and illness. This quantity of nets could be expected to prevent 11,000 deaths, 6 to 11 million cases of malaria and make a material impact on the economy of DRC. It is estimated that the improvement in GDP (Gross Domestic Product), a measure of economic performance, would be about USD 400 million.
We are about to allocate individual donations to these specific distributions and many donations, large and small, will fund these nets.
The distributions will be implemented by the National Malaria Control Programme of DRC and its distribution partners, with whom we have an agreed set of processes and a strong and open working relationship. We will report transparently on progress and performance throughout and after the distribution.
Key elements of our agreement include:
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AMF is funding 16,400,000 LLINs, with distribution in 2023
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This is a co-funding partnership with non-net costs (shipping, pre-distribution, distribution) funded by the Global Fund
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To support accurate data gathering, re-checks of net need numbers will take place by re-visiting a material number of households chosen at random.
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Household-level data will be collected using electronic-devices and then transferred into AMF’s Data Entry System (DES) for analysis and verification. This, and the above elements combined, are the basis for a highly accountable distribution.
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Post-distribution monitoring of net use and condition (PDMs) will take place every nine months for two and a half years in all districts. AMF will fund this.
Further information is available via the dedicated province pages below.
List of DRC distributions
2023
Tanganika,
Haut Lomami,
Kongo Central,
Kinshasa,
Ituri,
Tshopo,
Haut Uele,
Haut Katanga,
Bas Uele
2022
Mongala,
Sud Kivu,
Équateur,
Sud Ubangi
2021
Kwilu,
Sankuru,
Haut Lomami,
Haut Uele,
Maniema,
Bas Uele,
Kasai,
Ituri,
Tshopo,
Kasai Oriental
2020
Kinshasa,
Kongo Central,
Sud Ubangi,
Tanganyika,
Haut Katanga,
Haut Lomami
2019
Équateur