Laughing at the mosquitoes

In Mozambique, endemic Malaria is responsible for 30% of hospital deaths, 60% of hospitalized children and 40% of outpatient consultations. Poor communities are now fighting back with support from World Vision in the form of life saving mosquito nets.

April 13, 2009—There was never enough sleep! Luciano Mateus was a very worried man, as his four children could never get enough sleep and worst of all, were constantly ill “because of the mosquitoes infesting Lifidzi”, a little village in Mozambique's Tete province.

Luciano received bed nets from World Vision, calling them “a good thing, a new leaf in our quality of life and our health.” He adds, “We could not get enough sleep every night with mosquito buzzing in our ears and biting us all over. However my greatest heartache and fear of what could happen was having my children suffering from malaria. I’ve seen and heard of many children and adults dying from it.”

With the mosquito net from World Vision, Luciano says, “we now laugh at mosquitoes because they cannot bite anymore,” while happily showing the mosquito nets. Over 2,500 mosquito nets have been distributed by World Vision in the area so far, most of which are benefiting vulnerable sections of the community.

(story by field Communicator Claudina Lembe)

World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty. We serve the world’s poor regardless of a person’s religion, race, ethnicity or gender. For more information, please visit www.worldvision.org/press