Netlife

Netlife is tackling malaria by working to address the barriers that exist to using mosquito nets. In 2019, we will be working with Senegalese community leaders and youth groups to develop and implement a program that will provide outdoor sleeping resources and education. Bandafassi is a medium-sized village about 18 kilometers west of Kedougou on t... he laterite road to Salemata (pictured). It is significant in that it is one of the local Senegalese government headquarters, but if you roll into Bandafassi, you'd never guess it. Mud and grass huts are the norm and the "electricity" presence consists of a couple of top-loading refrigerators in which you may find a luke-warm Coke, or a street light that may or may not illuminate the dirt path passing through the village. Bandafassi is also is home to the regional "Poste de Sante", or Health Post. This is a 3 roomed-cement structure that functions as the primary clinic for approximately 44 villages spanning over 100 kilometers. It is staffed by a nurse. Our founders Jesse and Andy, were Peace Corps volunteers from 2001-2003 in this region and left at the end of their service with a desire to do more. They founded an organization called NETLIFE which works with villages in the Bandafassi region to fundraise for, purchase and distribute mosquito nets. Partly because this area is the farthest from the capital, it is the most underserved from a health perspective of all of Senegal. Finding nurses to work there is difficult; it is the bush, afterall, and well-educated health practitioners would much prefer to live and work in nice areas of Dakar, the capital. Mosquito nets for sale under subsidy from the Minister of Health often don't even reach the Bandafassi area, so its villagers rely on torn, older nets and the clothespins we used to use to patch the holes at night. And, this is the part of the country with the most substantial rainy season. It rains twice a day for about 4 months starting at this time of year.Read More