To Net or Not to Net

(my apologies in advance for the strongly opinionated, rambling and somewhat academic nature of this post.)

You’re spiking a fever, you can’t stop throwing up and your head is throbbing. You are somewhere in Africa and have managed to become infected with malaria.

They say that every 60 seconds, a child dies from Malaria. The catch: malaria is a completely preventable disease. You might be wondering, “why is this important?” Sure, it’s written into the UN’s Millenium Development Goals. But there are so many challenges we humans face, it’s almost numbing sometimes to hear statistics like this.

When you learn that simply by sleeping under a bed net every night, a mother could prevent herself from catching malaria and thereby not have to seek out and pay (a whole lot) for medication to treat it, you wonder why she would decide not to. An alternate example: a young boy becomes infected with malaria and cannot attend school for a full week. He too did not sleep underneath a bed net. Obvious repercussions ensue. You also learn of all the other negative impacts malaria can provoke within a community, an economy, a country. Then, you discover that the cost of such nets is only around $8, and quite often they are given away free of charge… and you scratch your head in confusion and disbelief as to why someone would choose not use these types of preventative products.

Countless programs exist to combat the pressing and grave issue of malaria by promoting bed net use. Nothing But Nets, for example, has a pretty hardcore goal: to end malaria deaths by 2015. That’s only three years from now. Working across sectors with partners such as the World Health Organization, the Gates Foundation, various UN chapters, and even VH1 and the National Basketball association, this campaign packs a lot of punch. These are the kinds of programs I learn about and think, “wow! What a great idea. Oooh, and their website is awesome! I’m sure they’ll have huge success.”

However, things are always so much more complicated and complex than they seem. For starters, the actual use of donated bed nets is often dictated by cultural norms of the communities where they’re given/sold. These nets are also commonly produced in countries outside of those that benefit from their use, thus taking away certain economic opportunities.  Another potential explanation for the variations in bed net use I find to be especially relatable: for the past few years I’ve been studying international development and nonprofit management, and there’s an adage that i can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard:

“a change in knowledge does not equal a change in behavior”.

And oh how true this is. Think about it- all of your friends that are smokers, who know and understand the facts about its dangers… but continue to smoke regardless. Or all of the times you drive to work by yourself when you know carpooling would be better (for many reasons, like traffic, environmental protection, etc), because of motives perhaps more important/convenient/cost effective for you.  This is one justification for why thinking that education is a sort of silver bullet (like I once did) for resolving development or really any sorts of issues is simply not true. Education is only one piece of a much larger, often convoluted picture.  But i digress…

It is this concept, the difference between knowing and doing, that brings me back to the main topic at hand and underlying purpose for my writing today. In my Cameroonian bedroom there is a bed net; it’s made of pretty lace and hangs gently over the bed. I am fully aware of the importance to sleep underneath this net, yet I’ve found myself strangely tempted not to. There are a few reasons, none of them good:

the culprit in question

• Reason #1: It’s uncomfortable– You feel almost trapped or claustrophobic. Also- waking up in the middle of the night and almost (or actually) tripping awkwardly onto the floor after forgetting the net is there, I have found myself frustrated/embarrassed/sore several times.

• Reason #2: It’s different– Sleep time is supposed to be restful time, and thus the stubborn part of me wants to sleep freely without something hanging so closely to my face, just as i would back home. The net is a constant reminder that I am in a totally different country and continent, so far away from the comfort and familiarity of my former apartment.

• Reason #3: It’s hot– Okay, maybe (definitely?) this is all just made up in my head (especially considering the fact that the bed net is literally composed of a million or so tiny holes). However, when the evening temperatures of Yaoundé reach a “cool” 80 degrees and there’s no AC to speak of, one is enticed to do whatever necessary to keep from sweating all over his or her sheets.

Now, I’m not going to even pretend to be an expert on the complicated matter of malaria and bed nets, but I do think they are interesting topics worth considering and (despite downsides and complexities earlier mentioned) certainly worth spending the resources to fight against. And if I don’t get my act together, I might just be experiencing directly some of the very real and very unpleasant effects that this disease is so talented at provoking.