{ Our Contribution }

TAMTAM facilitates research on relevant policy questions in an effort to continually improve best practices in malaria prevention. A studyof the effect of TAMTAM in the first clinics where the program was implemented showed the potential of the program to trigger positive externalities: a 117% increase in prenatal care services, 84% increase in HIV testing services. Subsequently, a randomized evaluation of TAMTAM’s Kenya program by Jessica Cohen and Pascaline Dupas analyzed whether it is preferable to freely distribute bed nets or require a co-payment by recipients. They found TAMTAM’s approach of free distribution to be clearly superior in terms of lives saved without a significant drop in bed net utilization. Overall, they estimate the program can save 18 lives per 1000 pregnancies at a cost of $441 per child life saved. These findings influenced Kenya’s national bed net distribution policy which now emphasizes a clinic-based, fully subsidized distribution model, as well as the decision of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID) to support free bed net distribution in Ethiopia.

TAMTAM's findings contributed to policy changes by the Kenyan authorities and non-profit organizations who are involved in bed net distribution.