Strengthening ITN distribution through routine health services
Strengthening ITN distribution through routine health services is an operational guidance resource for improving the planning and implementation of insecticide-treated net (ITN) distribution delivered via routine health services. It focuses on the most common delivery points, antenatal care (ANC), child health clinics and immunization services, and also covers facility-level distribution and outreach clinics that reach populations facing distance-related, physical, or socio-economic barriers to accessing facility-based services.
The guidance supports programmes in making pragmatic eligibility and delivery decisions (for example, expanding criteria to provide more than one ITN to ANC and Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) clients; extending provision to outpatients seeking other services; integrating ITN distribution into remote outreach; and providing an ITN to severe malaria patients at discharge), depending on national policy and previous eligibility choices. It sets out recommendations designed to address frequent operational weaknesses across key system components, and is intended to be applied when updating plans and developing operational guidance for this distribution channel, including in resource-constrained settings by leveraging existing national malaria programme (NMP) staff and resources. Where relevant, it notes estimated resource needs.
This resource is intended for the Ministry of Health (MoH) and relevant departments and partners, including the NMP, EPI, Maternal and Child Health (MCH) and Primary Health Care (PHC) departments, as well as ITN distribution stakeholders and community leaders. It complements other guidance and tools, including the RBM Partnership to End Malaria (RBM) Health Facility-Based Distribution of ITNs.
A slide deck from PMI VectorLink on identifying opportunities and challenges in ITN continuous distribution systems supports this operational guidance document.