It's my first blog post in a while, and for that, I apologize. However, as many of my fellow PCV's know, and hopefully some of you back home, it's World Malaria Month. This upcoming Tuesday is World Malaria Day, and we PCV's are attempting to eradicate this infectious disease altogether. Fun fact: that's entirely possible, because it's actually 100% preventable. How? Many measures can be taken, but to name a few, 1) Prophylaxis. (Take your preventative Malaria Medications, people!) 2) Mosquito nets. Sleep under your tucked-in nets EVERY night. It's that simple. Your net is insecticide treated? Even better. 3) IRS-Indoor Residual Spraying. In areas that are not necessarily provided with nets, IRS is a great option, for districts or individuals that can afford it. Basically, someone comes to your house with a certain type of insecticide and sprays the top 1/3 of all of your walls. This is where the female anopheles (the mosquito that transmits malaria) rests after she has fed off of human blood. Essentially, this kills off the mosquitos that would normally be hiding there otherwise. 4) Staying indoors from the hours of dusk until dawn, with the windows and doors closed, unless you have proper screens on both. This is peak biting time for these particular mosquitos, and they are relentless! If you must be outdoors during this time, protect yourself by wearing long sleeves and long bottoms, so there is less access to your skin. Lastly, 5) if you have access to it, bug spray! Combine all of these methods together? Contracting Malaria would be nearly impossible.
"Between 2010 and 2015, malaria incidence among populations at risk fell by 21% globally; during the same period, malaria mortality rates among populations at risk decreased by 29%. An estimated 6.8 million malaria deaths have been averted globally since 2001. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to carry a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2015, the region was home to 90% of malaria cases and 92% of malaria deaths. Some 13 countries – mainly in sub-Saharan Africa – account for 76% of malaria cases and 75% deaths globally. In areas with high transmission of malaria, children under 5 are particularly susceptible to infection, illness and death; more than two thirds (70%) of all malaria deaths occur in this age group. Between 2010 and 2015, the under-5 malaria death rate fell by 29% globally. However malaria remains a major killer of children under five years old, taking the life of a child every two minutes."
-http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/
Looking at a bunch of facts or statistics about something that may not affect you directly may be something you just skim over. Let me tell you this.... Malaria affects us all here, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. Either we ourselves contract it, fellow teachers, pupils at our schools, community members, etc... Just last night I had to give my grievances to a family I have become close here with, because they lost their 9-month old baby to malaria. 9 months old people. It is a very real part of life here in Uganda, and by choosing to become part of that life, we have also chosen to be part of the problem known as Malaria. As such, we can either sit back and do nothing about it, OR we can take a stand, and together, truly make a difference. I encourage and plead you all to do the latter, as forces are stronger in numbers. Thank you for reading, and I hope, at the very least, this opens up the conversation, and makes people think about malaria in ways they may not have before..