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ACCORDING TO the Ghana Health Service, an estimated 3.5 million people contract malaria every year in Ghana with approximately twenty thousand children losing their lives from the killer disease. Yet a preventive government�s initiative of handing out thousands of insecticide-treated mosquito nets seem to have suffered a jolt, as many people at Mensah Guinea, an unkempt slum community in Accra, are using the nets for decorative purposes in their rooms. Investigations conducted by the Daily Heritage reveal that other beneficiaries who have not found use for the nets have bagged them in their wardrobes and boxes. Their reason is simple, they feel uncomfortable when using insecticide-treated nets distributed with the scarce state resources and are better off sleeping in open air for mosquitoes to feed fat on them. Medics the paper spoke to claim a large part of the misuse is to be blamed on the lack of education on the nets� proper use. �Perhaps the people down-play the importance of the nets because health professionals in the area have not educated them on their uses,� they asserted. Fianu Azumi, a seamstress, told the Daily Heritage that though she has two treated mosquito nets, she does not feel comfortable sleeping in them. �I have kept one for safe keeping in my belongings and use the other one to cover my clothing,� she opined. She conceded rather interestingly that mosquitoes have not ceased in making life unbearable for them blaming it on suspension of the regular clean-up exercise by waste managers, Zoomlion Ghana, at the community beach engulfed with filth. Kwaku Ewusi, a resident, who also claimed that he experienced incessant headaches, has caged his net in his baggage. �I attribute the incessant malaria cases at the area to poor environmental conditions which have favoured the breeding of the mosquitoes and not the bed nets we do not sleep in.� He appealed to the government to re-institute the mass spraying of drains in the area to reduce the breeding of mosquitoes at the locality. �Indiscriminate disposal of refuse is a general culture among residents in this community. I however dare not caution anyone though I know their attitude is bad because of verbal abuse,� he added. Grace Manu, a resident, observed that malaria was prevalent in the area, adding that frequent visits to the hospital by most people there are commonplace. She intimated that despite several malaria attacks, she is always reluctant about visiting the clinic for medical attention. �I rely on herbs and concoction to cure myself of malaria anytime I am stricken. The herbal medicine allows me to pass a lot of stool which cleanses my system,� she intimated. Mrs. Manu opined that she rarely used the insecticide-treated mosquito net after she washed it.