Submitted by Rotarian Dr. Emma Bruce
Chairperson of the District 9101 Subcommittee on Malaria
The Rotary Club of Banjul, The Gambia, provided 1,000 t-shirts to the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) of The Gambia, for distribution to villagers as part of Rotary’s contribution to the launching Ceremony of Bed Net Distribution campaign 2019 in Farafenni which is the border of The Gambia and Senegal. I was approached by Balla Kandeh, Programme Director for National Malaria Control Programme in The Gambia, who asked for support from Rotary to donate 1,000 printed t-shirts towards the launching ceremony of the massive cross-border net distribution campaign. Mr. Balla Kandeh expressed that there were going to be about 4,000 people who will be gathering for this event plus surrounding villages will also participate; therefore, he requested the donation of these t-shirt since other organizations like Rotary, have also pledged to donate 1,000 t-shirts to make a total of 4,000 t-shirts
I considered the request and concluded that we can fund it under our community outreach programme objective. The 1,000 t-shirts is another effective way to promote the malaria prevention educational campaign since the t-shirts with messages about malaria prevention and the proper use of mosquito bed nets will be worn by the villagers for many years to come and every time they wear these t-shirts they will be reminded of the malaria prevention messages and be encourage to maintain good behavioral practice towards this objective. Most of the villages are low income, therefore a gift of t-shirts will go a long way because they will wear it over and over again and the malaria prevention message on the t-shirts will be seen repeatedly
The design of the t-shirts has two purposes: It has words for those who can read and write and a picture for those who cannot read or write. The message written on the t-shirts are as follows:
In the front of the t-shirts reads:
“KICK MALARIA OUT OF SENEGAMBIA, ALWAYS SLEEP UNDER A BED NET, ALL NIGHT, ALL YEAR ROUND”
There is also a picture of a mosquito bed net covering a mother and child that are sleeping under the bed net. This picture is intended to educate those villages who cannot read or write but through this picture they can still get the message that encourages them to use mosquito bed nets.
At the back of the t-shirts reads:
“BED NET DISTRIBUTION CAMPAIGN 2019 GAMBIA – SENEGAL”
These 1,000 t-shirts will reach a good number of the villages. The t-shirt is another method to spread the malaria prevention message as part of the community outreach educational programme that the District Subcommittee on Malaria and the National Malaria Committee of The Gambia for Rotary District 9101 have in the Action Plan.
The t-shirts were given to the National Malaria Control Programme. Mr. Balla Kandeh and his staff proceeded to Farafenni (the international border for The Gambia and Senegal) which was the venue for launching the Cross-border Bed Net Distribution Campaign. The t-shirts were loaded into buses that took the NMCP staff to the venue where distribution to villagers was to take place.
The funds sent in by the Malaria Partners International and Rotary Club of Illinois were used to purchase these 1,000 printed t-shirts with malaria prevention messages written on it. Email of the District Malaria Subcommittee: district9101malaria@gmail.com