What is different about the Healthy Vine’s approach? While vaccines it is hoped will be the final frontier in the fight against malaria, this is still relatively speaking a long way off. What the Healthy Vine does is to use the time in between to educate and prepare the community for the changes to come. When changes happen overnight people are overwhelmed and often confused about what to do next, especially those who have lived sometimes a lifetime with the debilitating illness of malaria. The time in between allows the Healthy Vine to help communities grow in self-confidence, self-reliance, have a better understanding of health and hygiene and develop the habit of using various methods to discourage the mosquito and reduce the incident of malaria so that when the time for vaccines come, the community will be ready to take full advantage of the opportunities it will bring them.
The community learns about the causes malaria and how it can be prevented. Families receive nets when they understand why and how the nets help. Instructions are given on caring for, maintaining and hang their nets.