Haja Rarivohelison, Coordinator of Cinémobile, PSI Madagascar, describes what happens when the Cinémobile arrives in town Interview in English Windows Media | MP3 | Transcript Interview in French Windows Media | MP3 | Transcript

Portable movie screens are used to spread awareness to remote populations. Watch a musical video clip about insecticide treated nets. One film is set in a small village with a high incidence of malaria In the village, there is a Doctor, a teacher and various other villagers. It is essentially a love story – with a series of malaria related issues woven in. The teacher falls pregnant and goes to see the Doctor. He treats her and gives her advice about the importance of sleeping under a mosquito net. The film plot includes other families in the village – some of them are exemplary and all the children sleep under nets; others in the storyline do not use nets and their children are often sick with malaria. In the end, the Doctor and the teacher get married.

Big screen entertainment has proven to be highly effective at engaging communities in the fight against Malaria. Cinémobile, a mobile cinema, tours remote areas, captivating rural audiences with films and music videos in the local language. Now more families are sleeping under mosquito nets and actively treating malaria.

"Most of the people live in rural areas…so it is new for them to watch a film with Cinémobile and they are not used to it."

A US$19 million grant to PSI, an organization specializing in social marketing for health, is used to make the films and take them around the country. The show highlights the importance of sleeping under a mosquito net and runs parallel to the distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets. Over 2.3 million nets were distributed by this project by the end of 2007.

"Now people feel more interested in the health problem in their villages and in malaria cases"

From 2004 to 2006 the percentage of the target group (pregnant women and children under five) who reported sleeping under a treated net the previous night went up from 16 to 38 percent. PSI aims to raise that level of protection to 85 percent of the target group by 2009.

Cinémobile stimulates the treatment of malaria by getting people to recognize the symptoms and act promptly. Easy to use, pre-dosed malaria therapy kits are widely available and a further 17 million treatment kits are being delivered as part of this project. Watching the films, people are learning that these kits can save lives, particularly among children. PSI expects that by 2009, more than two thirds of mothers should be administering the treatment kit within 24 hours of the first signs of fever, where malaria is suspected.

In addition to movies, puppets are also used to educate villagers about insecticide treated nets