Over 1,300 people have benefited from simple home improvements to stop mosquitoes entering their homes in one of Cameroon’s poorest areas, where four in every five children has malaria. With 80% of mosquito bites happening indoors at night, the home was identified as a key area to focus on to reduce the number of people contracting malaria.
Residents have been trained and encouraged to keep mosquitoes out of their homes, meaning they rely less on harmful insecticides and pesticides. They have been trained to plaster cracks in walls, improve sewerage and drainage, build and fit window and door screens, and grow mosquito repellent plants.
Alongside this, malaria awareness campaigns have been introduced in nursery school classes and through radio advertising. It is estimated that, so far, the number of mosquitoes has halved in homes which have had these improvements.
