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West Africa

Micro-finance and Malaria

Education is vital to malaria prevention. Between 2003 and 2006 GSK funded the NGO Freedom from Hunger project in West Africa, enabling it to bring financial services and education to poor women in West Africa.

Freedom from Hunger is an international organisation which combats chronic hunger and poverty.  The organisation works with microfinance institutions (MFIs) to provide small loans to help women start businesses or buy essential equipment. The women meet regularly to make loan repayments and learn about issues from basic business skills to child nutrition and family planning. The MFIs found that malaria was frequently the cause of clients missing their repayments. With support from GSK, Freedom from Hunger was able to develop a malaria education curriculum entitled `Credit with Education’ which consisted of a package of financial services with health and business education to improve prevention, early detection and treatment of malaria at home.

The education programme was introduced into six West African countries reaching 867,000 people. The impact study conducted with two rural banks in Ghana showed that those who undertook the course:

• were more likely to recognise the cause of malaria and understand that both pregnant women and under fives were most vulnerable
• had  improved knowledge of preventative measures and increased ownership of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs)
• said they shared their newly gained knowledge with other community members

The study also showed that education must be accompanied with financial support. The most common reasons for non-use of ITNs were their expense and lack of local availability.

Our funding of this initiative has now ended but we believe our support will have a long-term, positive impact in the target communities.

 

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