Giving away one bednet doesn’t “save one life”…. sorry!
Ahh, bednets. NGOs sell the idea of giving things away by equating each thing we give away to “the poor”, like a bednet, as equal to “saving a life”. If only it were that easy….
This week a fascinating group of visiting students told us about a campaign that had happened in their school to send bednets to Africa. They spent their week with us as we all learned more about how to be a responsible donor, and eventually we touched on several points that lead all of us to agree that sending bednets to Africa is perhaps not the best way to “save the world”.
Let’s analyze some of the problems.
What time of day to mosquitos usually feast? When are you usually itching and scratching and putting on bug spray?
If you said sunset, then you’d be CORRECT!
So if YOU don’t usually hang out in your bed at sunset, and the “poor people” we seem to all be trying to “save” are working in Cambodia (or your favorite African country) until sunset, well then THEY probably aren’t hanging out in their beds at that time either. In other words, bednets are indeed IMPORTANT, but they are not the holy grail of health. Bednets alone do not “save” ANYONE from malaria; rather they are only a PART of the solution.
What else is needed to combat malaria? Well, in Cambodia (where I’d like to note that malaria is not prevalent in many parts of the country – much less so than in places like Papua New Guinea) deaths from Malaria are very preventable. No one should be dying from Malaria here – there are medicines, free clinics, and lots of groups trying to “save” people with bednets. So why would anyone die of the disease here anymore?
Some people get very ill from malaria because they avoid a visit to the doctor right away and wait until they are near-death before going in order to avoid wasting money. In addition, there’s often a lack of knowledge regarding malaria. Many people don’t know:
– Where malaria comes from
– How to prevent the spread of mosquitos in and around their home
– How to tell the difference between malaria and the flu
– How severe the illness can become if left on treated
– The ease with which the malaria can be treated
– Which local remedies are effective
– The availability of medicines in urban areas
– Where they can get treated
– If a free clinic exists nearby
This lack of knowledge is a direct consequence of benefactors relying on giving away THINGS, like bednets, without investing the time in education or connecting people to the other resources and information they might need.
We can’t continue to dumb down statistics and create false facts. A bednet does NOT save a life. It’s a part of the solution, but it’s the EASIEST and QUICKEST part. It’s a tempting solution, because we can act instantly, and then pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. We can’t keep advocating that THINGS are the only solution – that giving out a bednet, equates to saving a family.
We all know our time is the most valuable resource that we have, so we create false metrics to help us save time and fool ourselves into thinking that we achieved guaranteed results, because anyone can walk out the door and give away a mosquito net. It’s not as easy to walk out the door and “save a life”. Mosquitos are sadly still biting at sunset, and although NGO marketing material might tell you otherwise, our things aren’t out there “saving” people for us.
Reminder to self: There’s more to it than giving things away.