Introduction
Mr Tindandjoa Doguene, a farmer in Djangou in the Savanes region, had kept silent during the Self Assessment meeting. In contrast, many of his neighbours had spoken up, the women in particular. And that was new! But at the end of the meeting, Mr Tindandjoa Doguene stood up and told the assembly, “Now I have understood that malaria is brought by mosquitoes. Therefore I will sell my cock and buy a bednet.”
Up until now, Mr Tindandjoa and many of his fellow countrymen thought that malaria was caused by the heat of the sun, or for the severe cases, some curse sent by hostile neighbours. Of course, the village had received more scientific information and but the message has not been well understood.
In 2004, insecticide treated bednets had been distributed across Togo, but too many of them stayed inside cupboards. And so the Togolese Red Cross launched a vast follow-up campaign to ensure that the population was using the bednets effectively and also that it was implementing all of the other actions needed to prevent and to treat malaria.
On this occasion, it adopted an approach based on the ability of communities to take ownwership of the struggle against malaria. This approach has been developed by an NGO called the Constellation for AIDS Competence and which has adapted it for malaria.
Blaise was convinced that the Self Assessment tool was the perfect answer to the follow up concern of the 2004 campaign, and he had it integrated into the community mobilisation strategy of the Togolese Red Cross.
The results did not disappoint him.