The Gates Foundation's malaria team had to rethink bed net distribution because mass distribution events were no longer safe during the pandemic.

Judge as of February 2021. True: reports from 2020 to early 2021 show that malaria programmes the Gates Foundation funds or works with, or its own malaria team, changed how they distributed bed nets during COVID-19 because mass gatherings were unsafe. Examples are a switch from distribution events to door-to-door delivery. Mostly true: the change was real, but the documents attribute it to partner programmes (for example the Global Fund, AMP or national programmes) rather than directly to the foundation's team. Mixed: distribution was changed, but for reasons other than gathering safety, or only in a small number of places. Mostly false: there is little evidence that distribution methods changed. False: the records show bed net distribution carried on through mass events with no rethink.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Digitalized mass distribution campaign of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in the particular context of Covid-19 pandemic in Benin: challenges and lessons learned PMC (National Library of Medicine, NIH), journal article · 25 November 2020

   “Fixed point distribution was used during the pilot phase, but this approach was not suited in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, in terms of compliance with barrier measures.”

2. E2 Digitalized mass distribution campaign of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in the particular context of Covid-19 pandemic in Benin: challenges and lessons learned PMC (National Library of Medicine, NIH), journal article · 25 November 2020

   “Effective coordination between international partners (Global Fund, World Health Organization, RBM Partnership to End Malaria, Alliance for Malaria Prevention, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) and the NMCP and in-country partners (the United States President’s Malaria Initiative, Catholic Relief Services)”

3. E3 A double challenge: Tackling COVID-19 and malaria in Uganda WHO Regional Office for Africa · 30 November 2020

   “Ordinarily, the nets are distributed in public gatherings – an impossible option given the pandemic.”

4. E4 Fighting one of the world's biggest killers during a pandemic United Nations Development Programme · 22 April 2021

   “Unlike in previous programmes, where the nets were handed out at distribution points, now a door-to-door distribution method was used, combined with physical distancing, hand washing, and use of personal protective equipment (PPE).”

A November 2020 report on Benin's bed net campaign says fixed-point distribution did not suit COVID-19 barrier measures (E1). The same report lists the Gates Foundation as one of several international partners, alongside the Global Fund and others, coordinating with the national programme (E2). WHO Africa reported that in Uganda nets were ordinarily distributed at public gatherings, which the pandemic made impossible (E3). The sources document bed net distribution methods being judged unsuitable or changed because gatherings were unsafe during the pandemic (E1, E3, E4), including in a Benin campaign where the Gates Foundation was one of the coordinating international partners (E2); the sources do not describe the foundation's own malaria team making the change, which the judges read as matching the "mostly true" criterion.