World Malaria Day Marked in Liberia, Other PMI Countries
FrontLines - June 2009
By Ashley Peterson Allen
Yemeh Smith
smiled nervously as
she received a rapid
diagnostic test
(RDT) for malaria
in rural Todee
District, Liberia.
The gloved volunteer
sanitized
Smith’s middle finger,
then pricked it
and deposited a
drop of blood into
the testing mechanism to wait 15
minutes for the result. |
Expectant mother Yemeh Smith receives a
rapid diagnostic test for malaria from a trained
community health volunteer in Todee District,
Liberia, on World Malaria Day this year.
|
Smith falls into the category of
those most vulnerable to malaria—
women who are pregnant and children
under the age of 5. She tested
negative, a result she attributes
to prevention information she
received from a community health
volunteer (CHV) who visited her
home and health professionals at
the local clinic who have provided
treatment to help prevent malaria
during her pregnancy.
The test and special treatment
Smith received are two of several
weapons in the arsenal to
fight malaria provided by the
U.S. President’s Malaria
Initiative (PMI), led by USAID
in partnership with the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, country health ministries,
and an array of NGOs
and civic organizations.
In Liberia, malaria is the leading
cause of sickness and death,
and perpetuates the cycle of poverty
as people infected often miss
work or school. Over the last
year, PMI distributed 197,000
long-lasting insecticide-treated
mosquito nets, and purchased
another 430,000 for distribution
through 2009 in the country.
USAID also sponsored training
in malaria case management
for 395 health workers in clinics
that received 425,000 RDTs and
over 1.6 million doses of antimalarial
drugs. The numbers
will increase to over 1,000
health workers, 850,000 tests,
and over 2 million treatments by
the end of 2009. Indoor residual
spraying, a fourth element in the
anti-malaria arsenal, begins in
June in 25,000 households.
A major malaria-related concern
in Liberia is proper diagnosis,
which RDTs help facilitate.
Health experts want to avoid situations
where all fevers are treated as malaria and resources are
wasted, while ensuring that those
infected receive proper treatment
from trained staff in clinics.
PMI is just one year into its
three-year operation in Liberia,
but a small survey of 146 households
in Bomi County showed
that over 60 percent possessed
mosquito nets, though just under
40 percent hung them properly.
In rural districts like Todee,
CHVs walk along dirt roads up to
three or four hours to villages
where they share the malaria
message with village leaders and
households. One volunteer
explained that before the awareness
campaign, many people
thought malaria was caused by
sucking oranges, eating bad mangoes,
or drinking too much beer.
Others resisted using nets, saying
they were too hot or hurt their
skin, and sold them or used them
improperly to make curtains, to
strain food, or to fish.
On World Malaria Day, which
fell on April 25 this year, countries
hard hit by the disease joined
advocacy groups and health agencies
to highlight malaria’s impact
and the programs to eradicate the
disease which kills about 1 million
people every year.
In Todee District, where Smith
and others were tested that day,
school children donned World
Malaria Day T-shirts and paraded
through the villages. They sang
songs about the day’s theme,
Counting Malaria Out, and
warned, “Don’t let the mosquito
bite—it may give you malaria!”
Read more about World
Malaria Day at www.pmi.gov/news/wmd_09.html .
★
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