Digitalization of mosquito net distribution campaign strengthens equity in Benin

Since the beginning of the mosquito net distribution campaign, every morning Ambroisine Agbowadan, a community health worker in Kpassé (District 3 of Ouidah), and her assistant Alice, go to Cyprien Zinsou, the neighborhood chief of Kpassé, to collect the stock of mosquito nets they will distribute to households.

“When the health worker comes to receive the stock, I ask her how many mosquito nets she wants to take for the day. I give her the number she requests, I take out the stock sheet and we both sign,” explains Zinsou. “In the evening when she returns, if she has not been able to distribute them all, we do another check. She brings back the undelivered mosquito nets, and this is also recorded on the stock sheet.”

Today the plan is to distribute 100 mosquito nets. Once loaded, the day can begin. The first destination is the household of Christine Monlandjo, a mother of four. On site, Agbowadan double checks the household name and number of mosquito nets allocated on her tablet.

“The tablet is so practical, and there’s no room for confusion. As soon as you find the household’s name, right next to it is the number of mosquito nets to be given. Once that’s done, the person who receives the mosquito net signs on the tablet, and that’s it!” declares Ambroisine in a cheerful voice.

For her family, Christine is entitled to two mosquito nets. Before handing them over, a short educational session takes place. The community health worker quickly reviews how to maintain the household environment to prevent the spread of mosquitoes, before reminding her of the importance of using the mosquito net every night. To ensure its effectiveness, Ambroisine explains to Christine how to properly install the net.

As soon as she receives the information, Christine spreads the two mosquito nets in the shade, as recommended by Ambroisine, before their first use. “Before, to receive a mosquito net, you had to leave your activities and go stand in line with a coupon in hand. If you lost your coupon or didn’t show up during the campaign, you didn’t get a mosquito net. Now it’s different—the mosquito net is delivered to your home. That’s good,” Christine says. “We already sleep under a mosquito net and we will continue,” she says.

Even though malaria remains the leading cause of medical consultations, the primary cause of death among children under 5, and one of the main reasons for hospitalization, Benin is using innovative strategies to overcome the disease.

Strengthening community health, chemoprevention, vaccination and vector control—including the promotion of mosquito net use—are all contributing to reducing the burden of malaria in the country.

Between 2022 and 2024, the incidence of the disease fell from 41% to 38%, and mortality decreased from 39% to 37% over the same period.

For the 2026 campaign, nearly 16 000 community health workers and more than 500 qualified community health agents have been mobilized. The fieldwork of the community health workers is supervised by the community health agents.

From his tablet, Juste Sodansou remotely monitors the work of Ambroisine, who he supervises. “Our job is to make sure that the distribution protocol is respected by our workers. Every two hours, I synchronize my tablet with theirs to see how the distribution is going. I check the stock flow. We make sure that no more mosquito nets are distributed than the number indicated on the tablet and that no fewer are given either,” explains Sodansou, who doesn’t limit himself to monitoring from the tablet. He also makes visits to the field.

In nine days, Ambroisine has distributed 754 mosquito nets. Thanks to digitalization, the campaign runs more smoothly. “The new approach to mosquito net distribution gives health workers more time to visit households. This allows them to reach more families while also updating data to include people who had not yet been counted,” explains Dr Raoul Saizonou, in charge of communicable and noncommunicable diseases at WHO Benin. “Together with the Ministry of Health, our ambition is to achieve a malaria-free Benin and save millions of lives.”

The digital approach introduced this year reassures Zinsou. “I am happy with this method of distribution because before people would come to complain to me: ‘I had the coupon, but I didn’t receive a mosquito net,’ and it was difficult to manage,” he recalls. “But now, since it’s based on prior registration and your name is in the database, you can be served at home. So no one will come to me afterward saying they didn’t get a mosquito net. And especially since it’s the community workers who handle it now, it allows me to know exactly who has received one and who hasn’t.”