Malaria Anonymous

Looking up from the patient screening book to see the growing number of patients waiting to be seen, my eyes rested upon a mother anxiously rocking her infant back and forth in her arms. Worry clouded the woman's face as her eyes concentrated on her infant. The infant's eyes revealed fading glimmers of life. For the brief moments they opened, only the whites of her eyeballs showed. Her small chest rose sporadically as she gasped for air. For a brief moment, she didn't seem real. The one-year old girl remained in this zombie-like state as her mother rushed her to the front of the patient queue.

We tested the child and asked the mother the who's, what's, when's and how's about her child's condition. The mother treated her child at home, saving her the effort of walking the 24 kilometers to the clinic. But now, after several days, the child's condition deteriorated.

Looking at the child's lifeless state, I desperately snapped, "Can't we just please refer her to the district?"

"All of these people have malaria," the clinic In-Charge answered. He raised his hand to guide my eyes to the sea of patients waiting outside of the clinic for malaria tests and treatment.

"She doesn't look well... at all. This woman walked TWENTY. FOUR. K..."

"We will see her," the In-Charge reassured.

BAMM!: Stop Out Malaria

April is Blog About Malaria Month (BAMM). This month, we will increase our efforts to Stop Out Malaria with awareness about the disease. This post is the first in a series about how malaria affects everyone's lives.

Malaria, one of the world's deadliest diseases, is caused by a parasites that are spread by mosquitoes. The infected mosquitoes then transmits malaria from person to person. Malaria is found in many tropical climates in the world, mainly in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.  Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 85% of malaria cases and 90% of malaria deaths worldwide. It can be especially harmful to vulnerable populations such as young children, pregnant women and People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Malaria devastates the lives of individuals, families, communities, and nations.

To date, many organizations have made countless efforts to eliminate malaria by raising awareness, conducting behavior change trainings, mass distribution of bed nets, and fundraising to aid community organizations in their malaria elimination and prevention programs. In Zambia, the Ministry of Health's prioritization of malaria control, in conjunction with increased international aid and advocacy, helped decrease the number of inpatient malaria cases and deaths. The Stomp Out Malaria initiative assists the Ministry of Health in their goals through malaria research, education, and community mobilization. By combining a scale up of community-level and large-scale organization/government effort, we hope to stomp out malaria once and for all.

For more information about the Stop Out Malaria project, click here.