Peace
Corps isn’t just about holding
babies. *gasp* I know sometimes that impression is made. Peace Corps has three
goals, to provide technical assistance, to help the host country nationals
understand America, and to help Americans understand the culture of the host
country. The second goal can be quite tricky when you have to combat popular TV
shows and movies like Desperate Housewives, Prison Break, Survivor, and all of
the Chuck Norris films and shows. Ghanaian’s are shocked when I describe the
homeless, healthcare system, and politicians in America. “No, I don’t know
President Obama, but the next time I see him, I’ll have him invite you to the
U.S.” You may think that goal three would be easy, but American’s are sometimes
close-minded about the rest of the world. Contrary to what some folks think,
Africa’s a continent, not a country. It’s 3 times bigger than America in
population and size. The languages are not all “clickey” languages. Unfortunately
(or fortunately), I don’t have elephants living in my backyard. The whole
continent isn’t hot. A lot of African’s DO have access to electricity, running
water, internet, and medicine. Today is World Malaria Day. I’m going to focus
on goal 3, and share with you about a disease that negatively affects Ghana
every day of the year.
In
November 2010 I got malaria. It was miserable, but I survived (much to my
mother’s relief!). How’d I get malaria? Simple! I was bitten by a mosquito of
the genus Anopheles gambiae carrying the protozoa of the genus Plasmodium. The mosquito picked up the
protozoa from biting a human whom had the protozoa already in their system (a
person who already had malaria). Once the infected mosquito pierced my skin to
feast on my blood, the sporozoites in the mosquito’s saliva (yuck!) entered my
bloodstream and traveled to my liver. My immune system didn’t catch it early.
By the time my immune system did see it and started to make antibodies against
it, the parasite changed into a protein that made it very difficult for it to
catch up to the replication of the disease. I was sick, a fever of 104, shaking
chills, vomiting, headache, and severe body aches. The disease can kill you
within 24 hours. Luckily I noticed the symptoms right away and took Coartem, a
medication used to treat malaria. You can read more about my experience here:
Every hour, over
340 cases of malaria are reported in Ghana, which adds up to a staggering
3,000,000 cases a year. In 2010, 3,000 people in Ghana were reported to have
died from malaria; I have reason to believe it’s higher. An article was
published in February 2012 by Richard Knox of NPR News, stating that the WHO estimate
of 655,000 malaria related deaths in 2010 was actually twice that at 1.24 million
people (over 2 children a minute). If that’s true, more than two times the
number of people died from Malaria, than died of any cause of death in the US
in 2010. Read more here:
No matter the
actual numbers, malaria is a problem. The good news? Malaria is PREVENTABLE and
Treatable!! Studies have shown that when 3/4 of people in a community sleep
under insecticide-treated nets malaria transmission is cut in half. Children
deaths from malaria are cut by 20% and the mosquito population drops by 90%. It’s
estimated that only 5% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa sleep under any type
of insecticide-treated net.
Here’s a little tidbit I just
learned. The CDC was originally the Office of Malaria Control in War Areas
which was formed during WWII in the southern US, where malaria was problematic.
By 1949 the country was free of significant problems related to malaria.
While you’re complaining about
the snow/rain/sunshine, the price of gas, or the latest app on your iPhone malfunctioning,
take a minute to be thankful you don’t have to worry about your child dying
before their 5th birthday from a preventable disease.
Want to know
more/do something? Check out these links:
http://www.pih.org/
(#02 2012 Top 100 Best NGOs by The Global Journal)
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/
(#03 2012 Top 100 Best NGOs by The Global Journal)
http://www.path.org/
(#06 2012 Top 100 Best NGOs by The Global Journal)
you're last paragraph is my favorite! take time to learn about this deadly but PREVENTABLE disease, Western world.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Is the problem with the mosquito nets that they are not readily available, or is there a stigma associated with them?
ReplyDeleteGood question! They're not readily available, and are expensive for the basic family, but Ghana is in the process of completing a bed-net campaign where citizens are give 1 bed-net for every 2 people. Not only are they given the net, it's physically hung up for them, over their sleeping area. So, they're becoming more available. There are several problems in addition to availability. Sometimes the correct/most directly affected population (pregnant women and children) do not get preference to sleep under them. Another is that people change where they sleep, especially during the hot season to outside, they don't take their net out with them. Lastly a lot of people don't "like" sleeping under them, complaining of the heat/lack of airflow, getting a cough, and just feeling trapped under them. As much as DDT poorly affected agriculture and wildlife in the US, a lot of children would be saved from getting rid of the Anopheles like we did back in the '50s. In the meantime, education about the usefulness of bed-nets in preventing malaria coupled with the free issuing of nets has increased use. Thanks for reading!!
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