DR CONGO / BED NETS

Mass distribution of insecticide treated bed nets are being distributed on an unprecedented scale in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:24
• Production Date: 1 October 2009
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: DISEASE PREVENTION; DISEASE CONTROL; DISEASES
• Geographic Subject: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
• MAMS Id: U091001g

Description

STORY: DR CONGO / BED NETS
TRT: 2:24
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /FRENCH/ LINGALA/ NATS

DATELINE: 28 SEPTEMBER 2009, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Shotlist

KISANGANI, DRC 9 SEPTEMBER 2009

1. Wide shot, Congo River
2. Med shot, Congo River
3. Wide shot, Kisangani Streets
4. Wide shot, Kisangani market and Congo River
5. Med shot, children playing in yard
6. Wide shot, children and child scratching mosquito bite
7. Med shot, mother and child in doctor’s office
8. Close up, sick child
9. SOUNDBITE (Lingala) Mikala Mobanda, mother:
“Sometimes he is hot sometimes he is cold, with fever. He is not eating well; his temperature just keeps getting higher. I am pretty sure it’s malaria again.”
10. Med shot, nurse taking child’s blood
11. Close up, blood being dropped on small glass slab
12. Med shot, malaria results
13. Close up malaria results
14. SOUNDBITE (French) Leon Faliala, Nurse Umoja Heath Centre, Kisangani:
“The serious illness related to malaria is often anemia. Severe anemia, which may require eventually a blood transfusion, can lead to very serious complications, including death.”

KINSHASA, DRC 6 SEPTEMBER 2009

15. Pan left, CELCO port Kinshasa
16. Wide shot, mosquito net packages being offloaded from truck
17. Wide shot, transport of packages onto the barge
18. Med shot, transport of packages onto barge
19. Wide shot, covered barges
20. Med shot, barge being covered with tarps
21. Med shot, Pierrette Vy Thi walking between barges
22. SOUNDBITE (French) Pierrette Vu Thi, UNICEF Representative DRC: “Each household will receive about three mosquito nets. In a province such as Oriental Province, which is about the size of Spain, and whose road network is practically non-existent, you have to use the rivers, the bad roads; it is going to be a huge logistical challenge. And then, after this huge challenge, we have to be sure that these families will use these mosquito nets. For this there is a whole social mobilization plan that will happen.”
23. Med shot, DRC and WFP flags
24. Med shot, barge with mosquito net packages
25. Med shot, nets inside hold
26. Wide shot, UNICEF barge and other boats

KISANGANI, DRC, 9 SEPTEMBER 2009

27. Wide shot, evening on Congo River in Kisangani with canoes
28. Med shot, canoe on Congo River

Storyline

On the banks of the Congo River in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a continuous struggle rages against malaria. In Kisangani, the capital of Oriental Province, the tropical climate, abundance of water and flora leave no place safe from mosquitoes and the deadly disease they carry.

In the neighborhood of Umoja on the outskirts of town, Mikala Mobanda has brought her son for a malaria test.

SOUNDBITE (Lingala) Mikala Mobanda, mother:
“Sometimes he is hot sometimes he is cold, with fever. He is not eating well; his temperature just keeps getting higher. I am pretty sure it’s malaria again.”

A fifteen-minute blood test confirms the disease suffered by more than half of visitors to the UMOJA clinic. One-hundred and eighty-thousand children never recover from the disease and die.

SOUNDBITE (French) Leon Faliala, Nurse Umoja Heath Centre, Kisangani:
“The serious illness related to malaria is often anemia. Severe anemia, which may require eventually a blood transfusion, can lead to very serious complications, including death.”

Nearly 2,000 kilometers downstream on the Congo River, the culmination of a year’s worth of planning by UNICEF is underway. 1,300 tons of cargo are launching from the CLECO Port in Kinshasa. Eight barges carrying close to 2.2 million insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets are being pushed upstream towards Kisangani. 5.1 million treated mosquito nets in total are destined for the Orientale and Maniema Provinces.

SOUNDBITE (French) Pierrette Vu Thi, UNICEF Representative DRC: “Each household will receive about three mosquito nets. In a province such as Oriental Province, which is about the size of Spain, and whose road network is practically non-existent, you have to use the rivers, the bad roads; it is going to be a huge logistical challenge. And then, after this huge challenge, we have to be sure that these families will use these mosquito nets. For this there is a whole social mobilization plan that will happen.”

Operational costs for UNICEF are estimated at (USD) $10 million. UNICEF has partnered with the World Food Programme(WFP), and the UN mission in DRC (MONUC) for logistical support with other significant support from UNITAID.

The trip up the second largest river in the world is expected to take more than three weeks. UNICEF is currently preparing a mass mobilization campaign at the household level in partnership with the major religious bodies here in the DRC, to complement the distribution, which will launch in early December 2009.

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