We want to update you on our recent trip to Kumasi, Ghana, where we conducted phase one of our malaria prevention kit study. Our journey started in Accra, where we presented our kits to every facet of the Ghanaian government, from the Archbishop of Ghana to the National Malaria Elimination Program. The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive, with everyone we spoke to pledging their continued support. We were heartened to see how excited they were to deliver our kits across the country, especially given how prevalent torn mosquito nets are in Ghana.

Michael and I both agree that our trip to Ghana was one of the most rewarding experiences we have ever had. We were able to speak with community members facing malaria every day, learn about their culture, and even play soccer with some of the local children after conducting interviews. We met got to know our four student volunteers from KNUST, a partnering university in Ghana. And they are one of the coolest and most talented people we know, it is amazing to have friends we can rely on across the ocean.

After analyzing the data, we discovered some crucial information. The majority of people in all three communities preferred sleeping under the soft polyester net instead of hard polyethylene, as it was cooler at night and left less of a burning sensation on their skin. By this information, not only our summer distribution will provide polyester nets that are more likely to be integrated into people's daily use, we will also be promoting the distribution of polyester nets when we meet with policymakers in the President's Malaria Initiative and the UN in March. We also found that damage was the primary reason for net discarding, which confirmed previous research. More importantly, very few people had ever attempted repairing nets in the past, with homemade repair attempts often proving ineffective or requiring another repair shortly after. However, many people stated that they would like our repair kit to be included with net distributions and would prefer to repair it with our provided materials in the kit instead of simply discarding torn nets.

Overall, we are incredibly excited about the progress made in phase one of our study. Everyone we spoke to, from government officials to children, expressed their interest in our kits and their desire to stay safe from malaria. With your continued support, we will be able to conduct phase two of our experiment, delivering 1500 new nets and 1000 kits across the country, and shift the global paradigm towards mosquito net repair. Together, we can save millions of lives.