BAMM!

Did you know that April is Blog About Malaria Month (BAMM)? This is an initiative that was started by Stomp Out Malaria, a U.S. Peace Corps initiative that was started on April 25^th, 2011 as the Initiative was launched at the World Malaria Day event at Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington D.C. The Stomp Out Malaria initiative has become a collaboration between Peace Corps Volunteers in the field, US Government malaria prevention professionals at partner agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and concerned host country institutions across Africa. Through this collaboration, malaria “stomp out” workers have been able to enhance inter-organizational communication, while achieving the common goal of putting an end to this deadly illness. In addition, field workers, such as PCVs, are essential to the success of such an initiative because they have the greatest impact at the grassroots level. That is, PCVs are in a unique position to become change agents for their community as they bring the initiative from the door step of Peace Corps headquarters to the classrooms, villages, and hospitals that need this assistance most. Those same classrooms, hospitals, and villages have been the primary site for Malaria related illnesses and deaths prior to any significant illness-reduction intervention. Unfortunately, we have not yet entirely eradicated this problem, but significant progress has been made. In fact, in 2005 alone the World Health Organization estimated that nearly 1 million malaria-caused deaths occurred in the world and 90% of those were in Sub-Saharan Africa*. In 2010 however, WHO estimated that the number of deaths had dropped to 655,000*, and a majority of this reduction has occurred because of increased availability of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs). In fact, ensuring universal bed net coverage is one of the primary goals of the Initiative. Because of the strong reduction in Malaria related deaths over that 5 year span, it is clear that much of the work done prior to the launch of the Stomp Out Malaria initiative has been successful. Furthermore, on its Facebook page the Initiative states, “While malaria remains a deadly threat to young children and pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a recent WHO analysis, the lives of 750,000 children have been saved over the past decade through malaria prevention efforts. With the continued expansion of these endeavors, three million more lives can be saved by 2015”*, highlighting the fact that progress has come. Although this reduction is substantial, more work must be done, and this is the focus of the Stomp Out Malaria Initiative. In addition to ensuring that bed net coverage is universal, the Initiative is working hard to introduce more skilled community health care workers who are capable of diagnosing and treating this illness in the home. This is accomplished by frequent training and/or placement of health workers, as well as teachers in areas where their services are needed*. Peace Corps Volunteers have the ability to work closely with many of the health care workers in the areas where they are placed to help carry out this mission, especially if they work in the health sector of Peace Corps. In particular, Peace Corps places volunteers in places where malaria rates are still high, while also giving them the tools to represent such a change agent within the community that they are serving. For example, at my site near Babati, Manyara, Tanzania, I have primarily focused on educational type on interventions. Unfortunately, I am not a trained health care worker, but that is no reason to suggest I can’t make a change. I have currently been carrying out the soccer program, ZINDUKA, which I have previously blogged about. Although ZINDUKA primarily focuses on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, it also delves into the Malaria realm. Specifically, this program seeks to ensure that participants understand that Malaria CAN KILL those who are bitten by the plasmodium carrying female Anopheles mosquito. Because this mosquito feeds on humans and primarily during the evening and nighttime hours, using a net properly is essential. As such, ZINDUKA educates the kids about this reality while also carrying out a session for specifically learning how to properly handle, set up, and maintain an LLIN. In addition to this program, I will also be carrying out World Malaria Day (Thursday 25 April 2013) activities at my school. In fact, just today I had an educational session with 10 enthusiastic and motivated students who also want to participate in the activities. I began the session by starting with facts about malaria, including how the illness starts (that is, how the plasmodium, carried by the female Anopheles mosquito, enters the person’s blood, travels to their liver where it stays for a period of approximately 10-28 days in order to reproduce, and then is released into the blood where it attacks the red blood cells, effectively eliminating or severely diminishing their oxygen-carrying capabilities**), numbers of yearly reported malaria-caused sickness and deaths in the world and Sub-Saharan Africa, and false beliefs regarding the transmission and treatment of malaria. Also, other activities we plan to do include arriving early into the classrooms to decorate the blackboards with messages and pictures commemorating the day, as well as a small play which we will present for all of the students. As a part of this, the kids will have an opportunity to showcase their creativity in a fun format, while also serving as ambassadors for their fellow students as they relay the key messages to the student body via this play, as well as actually reading important messages to the audience. By giving this small group of individuals accurate knowledge regarding malaria, they will have the potential to serve as change agents for the rest of their lives. Living in a place where it is a real concern, they will be able to educate their fellow Tanzanians about the problem and correct ways to avoid the issue. My hope is that they see themselves as being such important change agents and take advantage of this ability. As is often the case in a place with limited resources, such as is common in the African village, projects or initiatives without proper care, education, or motivated individuals can fall through the cracks. By educating a group of seemingly motivated kids about a problem which is very relevant to them, my intuition tells me that this will not be the case. Because they are serving as ambassadors for their fellow students, while also entertaining them, hopefully their message sticks. In addition, hopefully they can support the Initiative by spreading the news for anyone who will listen, especially if they know someone who has or has had malaria. In any case, with the number of people being educated by the Stomp Out Malaria Initiative steadily increasing, the chance of reaching the Initiative’s goal of zero malaria-related deaths by 2015 could become a reality.

*Much of the information regarding dates and numbers has been taken from the Stomp Out Malaria webpage at www.Stompoutmalaria.org, as well as its associated Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/StompOutMalaria/info.
 **Peace Corps Tanzania Volunteer's Health Handbook 2012 pgs. 43-47