Distributing insecticide-treated bednets during measles vaccination: a low-cost means of achieving high and equitable coverage

This article, published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, reports on a campaign in Ghana to achieve high and equitable coverage of insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) by integrating their distribution into a measles vaccination campaign. The authors found that 93 per cent of children aged between 9 months and 5 years had been vaccinated during the campaign, 94 per cent of households had an insecticide-treated bednet, and 68 per cent had a net hung over a bed. Whereas before the campaign, even the wealthiest households generally did not have insecticide-treated nets, after the campaign, coverage was high (over 90 per cent) even amongst the poorest.

The authors conclude that linking the distribution of insecticide-treated bednets to measles vaccination campaigns presents an important opportunity for reaching malaria control goals. The key features that made this approach successful were intensive social mobilisation, distribution of ITNs at the time when children were vaccinated and the use of community organisations to help with logistics. The authors suggest that the approach may be particularly appropriate in poor rural areas where there are no other distribution schemes.