Monday, April 29, 2013

Changing the Story


As I approached the clinic in my village I heard a woman wailing and knew someone had died.  A young girl, about three years old, had just died from malaria. She had been brought to the clinic with a fever of almost 105, but there were no treatments due to the progression of the disease.  The nurse was in town collecting more supplies, including anti-malarial drugs, and there was only one volunteer working at the clinic.  In the bed across from the girl lay a young boy  with a high fever as a result of malaria.  His father knelt by the bed, gently placing a cloth on the boy’s face and head.   I could see tears streaming down the father’s face.  I asked the volunteer if there was anything she could give the boy, but she shook her head and walked away. I realized the volunteer had two children of her own about the same age and she felt helpless.  Less than two hours later I heard wailing, the boy died.  In one day, in one clinic, two children, two deaths in two hours, both from malaria.

This is just one story about impact of malaria in Africa. The statistics on the number of deaths are staggering, including, a child dies every 30 seconds from malaria, but behind these numbers are similar stories of grief and despair for the families and communities.  Yet, malaria is a preventable and treatable disease so why are over 750,000 people dying each year?

In 2011 Peace Corps Africa started the Stomp Out Malaria Initiative, utilizing more than 3,000 volunteers who are working in their communities, with government and non-government agencies on malaria interventions through education and social media. In essence, Stomp is working to change the stories from the number of deaths to the number of lives saved through these interventions.  This is not an easy task, with many challenges, but as Zambians say, “panono, panono,”bit by bit, we are working in our communities on prevention and treatment measures.

I realized after these children died that families did not have enough bed nets in my village.  I was able to get a grant and purchase 700 nets and worked with the clinic and volunteers to distribute to families with small children.   Peace Corps Zambia is commemorating April as World Malaria Month and volunteers are working on several projects including malaria prevention health talks at schools and clinics, training health volunteers in the communities, radio programs and even songs in the local language.  Bit by bit, we are working to change stories of sorrow to stories of hope that people can stay healthy and that no one should die from malaria.

To learn more about Stomp and the malaria projects of volunteers in Zambia and throughout Africa, go to www.stompoutmalaria.org or on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/StompOutMalaria

How will you Stomp out malaria in 2013?






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