The Sudanese government with support from the World Bank has distributed 179,100 long-lasting insecticide-treated nets among people in four states affected by conflict in the country, the Sudan Tribune reports. The Ministry of Health signed a $1.1 million contract with Vesterguaard Company in September 2007 to distribute the ITNs. The goal of the project is to improve health services for the five million conflict-affected and underserved residents in the focus states. The states include Blue Nile, Kassala, Red Sea and Southern Kordofan.

The distribution and allocation have been in accordance with Sudan's National Malaria Control Program guidelines, which target pregnant women and children younger than age five, the Tribune reports. The Sudanese government is contributing 36% of funding for the ITN distribution effort, which has received contributions from UNICEF and the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The World Bank has been tasked to administer two multidonor trust funds worth $586.6 million to support priority activities, including malaria control, in Sudan.

At a recent ceremony to mark the distribution of long-lasting ITNs in Kassala, project coordinator Mohamed Osman described the importance of malaria control measures. He said the ITN distribution program is committed to maximizing the impact of health interventions by reaching out to communities with few resources (Sudan Tribune, 2/28).