By Wezzie Banda, World Vision Malawi
It is another hot morning and the temperatures outside continue to soar. Despite the heat, seven-year-old Beatrice Makwangwala, feels cold as she forces her way to school. However, Beatrice’s legs start shaking and she begins to vomit persistently. The situation leaves the young girl with no choice but to return home.
Seven-year old, Beatrice, and her mother, Joyce, outside Chamba Health Center in Zomba, Malawia, after receiving malaria treatment medicine.
Beatrice is quickly rushed to Chamba Health Centre, where the doctor examines her body temperature and takes some blood samples. After a couple of minutes, he reveals that Beatrice has stage three malaria.
The doctor then administers some pain killers and malaria drug tablets and advices Beatrice’s mother to report back at the clinic in case the situation does not change.
Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a parasite that is transmitted via mosquitoes. In Malawi, the disease continues to ravage many people, particularly young children and pregnant mothers. Statistics from the Health Management Information Systems (MHIS) indicate that there were about 6.1 million episodes of malaria reported in 2010 alone in Malawi, with approximately 7,500 deaths.
“We normally register a lot of malaria cases because of many swamps and rice fields that are in this area,” explains Collins Kawera, the Health Surveillance Assistants’ Supervisor, stationed at Chamba Health Centre in Zomba district.
According to Kawera, community members get infected with malaria as a result of not sleeping under insecticide treated nets and by not getting rid of swampy areas and stationery water around their homes.
“The safest way to deal with mosquitoes that transmit malaria is to sleep under treated nets. It is better to prevent malaria than to cure it,” explains Kawera, who adds up to say that sometimes the malaria parasites resist drugs, thereby putting lives of patients at risk.
As a way of trying to reduce cases of malaria in Zomba, World Vision has been distributing insecticide treated nets to children, families and community members living in Namachete Area Development Program (ADP). Alongside this, World Vision has also been regularly supplying drugs and pharmaceuticals including Vitamin A, albendazol, zinc, and aspirin (pain killer) to hospitals and clinics in Zomba.
Annually, World Vision, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, conducts a number of awareness campaigns and meetings whereby community members are educated about the need to prevent the spread of malaria.
“Through our campaigns, we provide information to community members on the use and effectiveness of treated nets, and also encouraging them to rush to the hospital if they feel like having malaria symptoms,” Kawera explains.
Three days after taking the anti-malaria drugs she received from the hospital, Beatrice gets better. “After taking the anti-malaria drugs, I am able to go back to school and my health has tremendously improved,” she explains.
“I am very thankful for the support that World Vision renders to Chamba Health Clinic. Since World Vision started supplying drugs and pharmaceuticals to this clinic, we no longer travel to Zomba town to seek treatment at the government hospital,” explains her mother, Joyce, who also promises to purchase another insecticide treated net for her daughter Beatrice, to replace the old one she has.
