Program Manager, Tim Freeman, for Rotarians Against Malaria (RAM) shares a bit about their organisation and this project. “RAM is a local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) working in malaria control in Papua New Guinea (PNG). In 2009, RAM received money from the Global Fund which funds work in Malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS.” The funds given to RAM were to distribute Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) to all villages of PNG.

Tim shares that to makes this happen, “LLINs are distributed to all targeted villages every three years… PNG has very poor infrastructure. On the mainland alone, seven different road systems exist which do not connect to each other. For many other areas, there are no roads or river access. Often the only way to reach these areas is by air using small planes or helicopters.”

Partnership with MAF against Malaria

Since 2011, Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) has been one of the leading partners for small aeroplanes in the distribution of LLINs in remote areas. At the end of February 2022, the MAF PNG base in Telefomin flew multiple charter flights for RAM. Together, we distributed 28,000 mosquito nets to remote communities.

Several drop-offs were at closed airstrips, evem communities several days away from the airstrip with no airstrip of their own. Below is a statement from the Program and Operations Managers at RAM.

“Without the vital services provided by MAF and other similar organizations, RAM would be unable to reach the remote parts of PNG without huge difficulty. Therefore, we would like to give our thanks to MAF for a long lasting partnership. It has greatly aided RAM’s ability to provide a service to the remote parts of PNG.“

– Tim Freeman (Program Manager) & Hebou Ranu (Operations Manager)

Story by Tim Freeman (Program Manager) & Hebou Ranu (Operations Manager)