Uganda: nets

In a small mud hut in a rural village in northern Uganda, a new life is wrapped up in a mother's arms, breathing softly, sound asleep, utterly content. At just one week old, the little baby girl has no idea of the danger malaria poses to her. But her mother, Gloria Aromrach, is only too aware of her daughter's vulnerability.
Until recently, malaria was a constant worry for Gloria. Not so long ago, her three-year-old son, Ronald, caught the disease and Gloria feared for his life, "His fever was so high, I had to rush him to the health centre", she explains. Thankfully, Ronald recovered, but Gloria worried the next time he may not be so fortunate. Gloria's story is not uncommon. Like so many others, with no mosquito net to protect them, both were incredibly vulnerable to the life-threatening disease.
Every day in Uganda, approximately 300 people die from malaria. Although there are ways to both prevent and treat it, the disease remains the leading cause of illness and death among the Ugandan population. Preying on the most vulnerable - pregnant women and their unborn child, lactating mothers, people living with HIV and aids, and children under the age of five - malaria disproportionately burdens those who lack resources to prevent it and capacity to treat it.
Malaria negatively impacts on household productivity and on families' attempts to lead self-sufficient and dignified lives. Parents become sick and unable to work, reducing household income. Limited savings must be spent on medicines. This means children are deprived of their education because school fees cannot be paid, basic household necessities like salt and soap cannot be attained, and food cannot be bought, leading to hungry families.
A target of the Millennium Development Goal Six is to have halted and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria by 2015. Given that the knowledge and tools to dramatically reduce malaria worldwide already exist, with serious action, this target can be met. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Uganda is contributing to this global effort, with a vision of the total eradication of malaria.
Just because they live in rural Uganda, people like Gloria should not struggle so hard with this preventable and treatable disease. LWF Uganda works in Kitgum district, where malaria rates are endemic, supporting those most at risk of contracting the disease through providing insecticide treated mosquito nets, conducting sensitizations, and training Village Health Teams (VHTs). This is helping to build community capacity to prevent, diagnose and treat the killer disease.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/lwf/127140092489.htm