Mosquito nets, condomns and recycling

Posted on September 22, 2009 at 7:57 am

This is a repost of an edited previous post

From the Kenyan newspaper the Daily Nation:

According to Dr Elizabeth Juma, who is the head of malaria control under the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, there has been evidence of people turning the nets into fishing gear especially in Nyanza Province. Now a different group has discovered another lucrative business venture, and are using the nets to make wedding dresses.

Upon reading this news clip in William Easterly’s blog “Aid Watch“, I was reminded of the training in teaching condom use that all Peace Corps volunteers in Thailand were required to attend due to the rampant AIDS problem in Thailand. In the old days volunteers used bananas in the demonstration but switched to wooden replicas when they discovered that some participants went home and actually put condoms on bananas thinking it had some sort of power to keep them safe. Therefore, I was not surprised to learn that mosquito nets are being used for fishing nets and wedding dresses.

Changing behavior is not easy

Changing behavior requires an understanding of why the behavior needs to change, an understanding of how to do things better, the proper resources in place to make the change, assistance in problem solving if things go wrong, and a general groundswell of acceptance for the new behavior. As a former environmental educator I’m well aware of how hard this really is. Think of how long you or your family knew about the importance of recycling before you actually began recycling on a regular basis. How many things had to happen before you changed your own behavior.

Thai’s know that mosquitoes transmit malaria, but getting people to use nets can difficult. One of the reasons for not sleeping under nets is that it decreases air circulation making it hotter and stuffier at night. Another reason is the idea that mosquito nets affect male virility. To try and counter this belief the public health department created posters of a man sitting on his bed with the mosquito net behind him and the caption “I can still do it under the net”.

What did it take to change your behavior?

It takes far more than just handing out goods to change behavior. Programs that give out mosquito nets, condoms, and other supplies are common. They are attractive to some aid agencies because they can “help” a large number of people for very little money. But we cannot just pop into a village, give out aid and leave, and then expect it to be successful. Just as a mass recycling campaign giving away free recycling bins does not guarantee that people will recycle.

Update: Here’s a great post with photos of all the things people have used mosquito nets for besides actually keeping away mosquitoes
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Related posts:
The allure of the quick fix
6 questions you should ask before donating goods overseas
Best practices often lose out to quick and cheap programs that please donors

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