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Success Story
Applying insecticide
on walls inside homes is further barrier to pest
Spraying Protects 700,000 Senegalese
Photo: Richard Nyberg, USAID/Senegal
"Trained insecticide sprayers prepare to deploy in the village of Keur Moussa, near the
border with The Gambia."
“USAID is truly carrying out development for the people in fighting malaria, especially through indoor residual spraying,” said El Hadj Oumar Kane, president of the health post committee in Paoscoto, Senegal.
Masked assailants moved swiftly from hut to hut, sweeping through entire villages in a search-and-destroy mission. But there was no cause for fear -- among humans, that is. The welcomed intruders blasted long-lasting insecticides on walls and ceilings to terminate the real killers in Senegal: mosquitoes.
Senegalese communities welcomed the 275 USAID-trained men and women armed with insecticide as part of the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) activities in the West African country.
“USAID is truly carrying out development for the people in fighting malaria, especially through indoor residual spraying,” said El Hadj Oumar Kane, health committee president of the health post at Paoscoto, in Senegal’s central Nioro district.
Results from this USAID-funded campaign to spray the indoor walls of homes in entire communities -- the first widespread malaria prevention activity of its kind in Senegal for over a half a century – show that nearly 700,000 Senegalese were less likely to contract malaria during the rainy season.
In an indoor residual spraying pilot activity launched in May and June 2007 in the districts of Nioro, Richard Toll, and Vélingara, sprayers treated 76,491 houses, protecting 680,934 people, far surpassing the goal of treating 75,000 houses to protect 500,000 people. The spraying campaign used lambda-cyhalothrin, a World Health Organization-approved insecticide for indoor spraying.
“Without fully realizing it, USAID helps us to save money to pay for daily food and other family expenses,” added Oumar. He said when family members become sick, they not only lose one or more days of income, but also must rent a horse cart to transport them to the nearest health post. “This year alone, I was able to save over $100 because no one got malaria. The spraying in my home also helped kill off other insects and make my home a cleaner place. You cannot imagine how much we benefit from this support.”
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