Why Only One out of Six Congolese Children Sleep Under Malaria Nets

Poverty and Limited Access due to War are the two reasons for the low coverage (below 15 percent) of insecticide treated mosquito nets in Congo.

I can not stop the war in eastern Congo. But I can give free mosquito nets to pregnant women and children under 5 years old.

Congo Helping Hands will distribute about 2,500 in central Congo.

Global Update - More Children Sleep Under Malaria Nets, but Millions Still Do Not - NYTimes.com: "Donor contributions for malaria have greatly increased since 2002, but distribution of the nets has been spotty. More than half of the 90 million missed children were in just seven countries, and 25 percent in Nigeria alone.

A few small countries did particularly well; Eritrea reached 85 percent coverage. Some medium-size ones, like Kenya and Madagascar, did moderately well.

But some large or populous countries, like Nigeria, Uganda, Mozambique, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan — the last two of which are at war — were below 15 percent.

Free distribution of nets worked best, the authors said."