Mulanje — Mulanje District Hospital Malaria Coordinator, Regan Dulani says he is optimistic of reduced under five deaths with the distribution of the Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) underway in the district.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency on Tuesday, the coordinator said a lot of under five children in the district die from malaria a situation he described as a setback to development.

"This year alone we have recorded 226, 000 malaria cases in the district. We have had 57 Malaria deaths, of which 38 cases were under five children representing over 66 percent of the total deaths.

"With the distribution of these LLINs however, we expect to see a drop in malaria incidences and malaria related deaths especially amongst these under five children, but this can only be realized with proper usage of the nets by the communities," Dulani said.

He added that, "once the distribution is over and people start using the nets effectively, the hospital will also save huge costs it incurs from procuring painkillers, syringes, food and time it spends treating malaria in-patients, to treat other diseases."

"We are lucky that as a hospital we do not procure malaria drugs, we receive these drugs from Global Fund, still we lose a lot of money treating in patients," Dulani explained.

He appealed to communities to use the nets appropriately by sleeping in them on a daily basis.

"In the past when such nets were distributed like this, we noted that some people were misusing them. Do not use these nets for fishing, making gardens or resell. We want to ensure that every household is protected from mosquito bites therefore preventing Malaria deaths in the district," he advised.

A mother of four, who received three mosquito nets at Mulomba Health Centre, Loveness Kabango commended government for the initiative saying her children were in-and-out of hospitals because of the disease.

"I have four children and the last one is three, we were using an old mosquito net I received during pregnancy. It has so many holes; my son was unprotected from mosquito bites that he was frequently sick. I hope this will change that and give me time to attend to my business, selling second hand clothes at the trading," she said.

LLIN Distribution begun on Wednesday last week in Mulanje districts.

About 364,000 nets were procured for the district.