In Thailand, the outbreak of infectious disease is of great concern as a result of the massive number of flies breeding in the standing flood water.  NICCO provided sanitary kits for protection against infection including mothproof mosquito nets and insect deterrent balm made from natural herbs which was created by Mahidol University.  This report will focus on this situation.

On Nov. 26th, we provided sanitary kits for protection against infection to 1,500 families living in Khlong Sam Wa, Bangkok. Each kit included the following: 2 mosquito nets, 2 insect deterrent sprays, 2 insect deterrent balms, 3 boxes of mosquito coils (30 coils), 1 new antibacterial medicine, and 1 hand gel. Khlong Sam Wa is divided into five sub-districts. We narrowed down the list of districts to those in the ward that receive little assistance and determined the districts that we should provide those kits for after confirming the situation with visits to each district.

 

In addition to two military trucks and ten troops arranged for by the local TV station Channel 3, six volunteers including two Mahidol University students supported our activities.  Thanks to their cooperation and to the coupons that we handed out beforehand,   the kit distribution went very smoothly. 
( left photo: Channel 3 staff reporting at the scene of the distribution.
right photo: the military truck and troops that worked with NICCO in the distribution of the kits.) 


Although the floodwaters have receded from the central parts and highways of the ward, many districts targeted in our kit distribution are still covered with water.  Some families came to receive the kits by boats.


Loading and travel time took about ten hours and the distribution itself took less than five hours.  The cooperation of the people in the community who helped us prepare and hand out the coupons enabled us to finish our work earlier than we had expected. We will conduct a follow-up study and will see the users of the mosquito nets again and hear from them about their experiences.