Over 140,000 women and children in 85,000 households in Nyagatare and Gatsibo districts will be supplied long lasting impregnated malaria nets by the United Nations in a bid to fight malaria.

This was revealed Thursday during a launch of two campaigns organised by the Ministry of Health (MoH) aimed at improving environmental health and sustain child survival in Rwanda.

"These campaigns underscore the importance of sustaining gains achieved in child survival but at the same time ensure key challenges, such as hygiene, continue to be addressed’ said UNICEF Representative, Joseph Foumbi.

During the campaign, UNICEF, as part of the UN in Rwanda, in partnership with the World Bank, pledged to financially and technically contribute in a nation-wide sensitisation programmes that will teach families how to improve their sanitation and hygiene.

The ministry of Health records that, one out of ten children dies before their fifth birthday from preventable diseases such as pneumonia, malaria, and chronic malnutrition. The campaign aimed at implementing policies to change the trend.

Despite this, Rwanda has in the recent years documented dramatic progress in child survival, mostly notably in reducing the number of children who become ill or die from malaria, and through the expansion of nation-wide immunization coverage.

MoH also emphasized the importance of the week long ‘National Hygiene and Sanitation’ campaign that  aims to improve the health of  the population, including school-children, though behaviour change, focused on improved hand-washing, enhanced personal and toilet hygiene and improved food safety practices.

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