Malaria Month in Mozambique

April is malaria month, culminating with World Malaria Day on April 25th. Here is a quick overview on malaria here in Mozambique and what Peace Corps is doing to try to prevent it.

Malaria is a disease that was eradicated in the US through an intensive program headed by the CDC beginning in 1947. The state and local health agencies of thirteen southeastern states combined efforts, mostly based on spraying the insides and outsides of houses in areas of high prevalence with DDT, and were able to declare that the area was "free of malaria as a significant public health problem" by 1949. Strategies also included elimination of breeding areas of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Without this kind of coordinated governmental effort in Sub-Saharan Africa, malaria remains endemic and is the number one killer. That's right: in a region with droughts, starvation, conflict and sky-high HIV rates, malaria kills more people than anything else.

Here in Mozambique, malaria causes twenty-nine percent of deaths annually, and more than half of deaths among children five and younger. In some areas of the country, over 90% of children under 5 years old are infected with the parasite. Pregnant women are the other group particularly susceptible to malaria, which can lead to premature births and/or low birth-weight or other complications due to anemia resulting from infection by the parasite. Anemia is also a major problem among children who contract the disease. Malaria is endemic in 100% of the country:

Because malaria is such a danger to the lives of people in this region, Peace Corps sponsors a project throughout Africa, called Stomp Out Malaria, aimed at eliminating the disease through education and prevention. Although PC won't be spraying anyone with DDT (thankfully), volunteers are educated in the many simple and effective ways that people can reduce their risk of contracting malaria. Because malaria is spread when a mosquito first bites an infected person, then others, preventing infections starts a virtuous cycle that could eventually eradicate the disease entirely.

Volunteers in Mozambique are taught how to keep themselves healthy and given daily or weekly prophylactic drugs and mosquito nets. We are also taught, whether in the Education or Health programs, a number of strategies ranging from hanging bednets or mounting screens on windows and doors, to simply going to the doctor and being tested for the disease at the first sign of symptoms, that we are encouraged to share with our communities. Many people do not know that local clinics have rapid tests available and will provide free treatment for those who test positive.

I have been lucky that malaria has not had a large impact on my experience here in yet. I take my doxycyl every day (a drug with minimal side effects: heartburn if I don't take it with food and water, sensitivity to the sun and, last but not least, clear skin!), but some volunteers end up falling sick despite taking their meds, using a bednet and lots of mosquito repellent. Just this past weekend, I was with a large group of volunteers following our "Reconnect" conference and two people tested positive for malaria. Over the past month, two of my friends have also had malaria. Since the semester started, three of my twenty-one students have had malaria. Luckily, among the volunteer population and the relatively well-off, educated university population, people know the symptoms and treatments and all have pulled through without complications.

There is good new, however; education and prevention efforts have been paying off. The Mozambican government is stressing the use of mosquito nets and in areas where free nets have been distributed and populations have been educated as to their use, infection rates have been going down. At the current rate, the incidence rate among children will fall to 80 per 10,000 children, which would exceed the relevant Millennium Development Goal.

Because of the push for education in effected regions, there are also more and more locally-developed potential solutions. A friend recently shared a great idea developed by students in Burkina Faso and Burundi, who won a global social venture competition with their anti-malarial soap. The soap makes use of local herbs that repel mosquitoes and should be easily adopted by large populations as it requires absolutely no change in established routines. As one of the inventors explains, it is a very simple solution, " because every one uses soaps, even in the very poor communities."

So if you have some time, this month or any other, please take a moment to learn more about organizations like Stomp out Malaria and