Converting a rectangle into a cone…bed net that is!

Botswana’s National Malaria Program’s goal is to have zero new malaria infections by 2015. In efforts to eliminate malaria in Botswana, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has distributed tens of thousands of Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLIN) over the past 5 years. Most recently, the MoH distributed 40,000 LLINs in high endemic areas of Botswana. Community volunteers went door to door collecting household data on bed net use and gave the head of the house hold a voucher to collect the appropriate amount of bed nets per household at the nearest health post, clinic, or hospital. The head of the household would then collect the LLINs the following day.

Following the most recent distribution, I have asked people if they have been sleeping under their bed nets every night. Some say “yes” and some say “no”. For the people that say no, I ask why? It was a free bed net that they wanted, so why not use it. The most common answer to this question is it is a rectangular bed net. Many people say the rectangular bed nets are too hard to hang up or they make them feel claustrophobic. They would prefer to have conical bed net. An easy solution to this problem is to convert their rectangle net to a conical net.     

I decided to show people how to convert their nets for little or no cost. I bought a couple meters of irrigation pipe for about BWP 10 (~$1), electrical tape for about BWP 5, and used some plastic-zip ties I found laying around for this project. If these supplies are not available, pliable sticks (with all sharp points removed) and string can be used. I took all the supplies to my clinic and sat down with a handful of clinic staff. Step-by-step we went through the process of bending the tube into a circle, taping it together, and then connecting it to the bed net. In less than 15 minutes and for less than a couple dollars, a rectangular bed net was converted into a conical bed net!

I used the newly adapted bed net at a recent health expo and around the clinic people. People were excited to see it and wanted to know how to do it themselves. I will host some simple workshops/trainings on how to do the conversion and develop a step-by-step educational leaflet to distribute at events.

Photo - Mphande, Shakawe Clinic Health Education Assistant, holding the final product of a conical LLIN bed net.