What has most shocked me?

Having been to Malawi before I knew malaria was a problem but until this trip I did not realise the extent of the problem. I think this has been one of the most shocking things for me. On a regular basis one of the AGREDS staff will go to the hospital for a malaria test or a child in the communities will look ill and we will be told they have malaria. Frequently we will notice that one of the children from around our lodge we play with, will be unusually quiet and look vacant. We suspect this is due to them being ill with malaria. At first we assumed that Malawians referred to any illness as malaria. After some research we discovered that an adult Malawian will on average have malaria 6.1 times a year and an average child will have malaria 10 times. It then became apparent that most illnesses we witness are in fact malaria. Malaria is a disease that can be easily prevented and treated but without access to the right prevention and medication it can be fatal. Furthermore due to the high levels of HIV in Malawi, malaria has a high chance of infecting a person. Of course the health consequences of malaria are horrible but there are also economic consequences. The World Health Organisation says that the cost of malaria to the average Malawian household has been estimated at US$35 annually - or 7.2% of average household income. This means on top of the health problems and potential threat to life that malaria poses, Malawians also struggle financially even more as a consequence of malaria.

Malaria of course is not just a problem for Malawi. There is an estimated 660,000 deaths worldwide from malaria and 207 million non-fatal cases of malaria a year. The most deaths are amongst African children – around 1,500 per day. These statistics are so shocking but malaria is just part of everyday life for most Malawians. Chatting to some of the AGREDS staff, they told us that malaria is much more of a problem in Salima because it is near the lake and therefore there are more mosquitos. Misheck, a project officer, said that he has to sleep under a mosquito net in Salima all year around unlike other places in Malawi where you can get away with sleeping without a net in the dry season. The problem is the people in the rural communities usually do not have access to nets and even if they have a net, the nets must be washed with insecticide every year but this can be viewed as an unnecessary cost when money is so stretched. An organisation called People's Service International has run a campaign in Malawi to decrease the cost of nets that are for sale in rural health clinics and they also subsidies the cost of the insecticide wash. This campaign has had some success but the problem still remains. The best prevention that I can see would be a vaccination. This is not yet available but there are many research centres across the world trying to develop a vaccine.

I had the opportunity to talk to Nema, a primary school teacher who we have got to know helping with the climate change club at her school. The last time we met her son Daniel he was suffering with malaria, thankfully she happily told me that Daniel had recovered. I asked her some questions about how malaria affects her life. She said that she expects to get malaria twice in a year but uses a mosquito net during the rainy season to protect herself and her family against malaria. Nema carries on working as a teacher if even when she is ill with malaria. I was shocked at this but she said she is used to malaria so just carries on. Whenever Nema feels ill she gets tested for malaria and receives medication for free if the test results are positive.  I asked how many people she knew who had died of malaria and her reply was "so many people".

What impact can you have?

So we want to encourage you to take action. There are plenty of campaigns that you can put your name too. (http://malarianomore.org.uk/) Or even donate some money towards the cost of a mosquito net to be given to someone in a developing country or even to a research centre that is doing vital work into creating a vaccine. (http://malaria.lshtm.ac.uk/support-us) Most importantly though, tell people about the problem of malaria, raise awareness of the issues and pray for all the people currently suffering from malaria or those bereaved because of malaria.

To finish i will leave you with this bible verse; 'Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.' (Psalm 82:3). God wants us to stand up for the poor and oppressed. There are many campaigns doing amazing work in tackling malaria, and we can join in.

written by Lois Smith