Malaria Prevention

Malaria Prevention
Any time I come across the word malaria, my childhood flashes in to my mind. I begin to think of the rituals my mother went through so that we could not get infected despite that once in a while one of us will still fall sick of malaria. I wonder if we did not go through all those process what the consequences would have been. We lived in a capital city, off cause it was hot and humid and more especially the surrounding were usually not that clean. My mother kept our home very clean but the big trouble was the fact that the drainage systems were really very bad. There were this gutters and people usually would doom their waste inside and worst water could not flow through because the gutters were full and also people open up their toilets and everything went in to this gutters, it was not a good site, There were sinking and off course breathing grounds for mosquitoes. In spite of the fact that we keep our immediate surroundings clear, the accumulation of waste and stagnant water resulted in the growth of mosquitoes. So my mother did what she new best. Three times a week i.e. Monday, Thursday and Saturday she would spray the entire house with a mosquito spray (common name shell tox) with all the doors and windows closed. We will then have to sit outside for least 2 hours while the smell of the spray evaporates. When that was done we had a night free from mosquitos’ noise and biting. But now there are more effective spray that can last for 3-6 months depending in the insecticide and in some cases there can even last 9 to 12 months. I wish we had those types then
Every month she made sure that she gave us preventive malaria drugs to take and in this case the drug was nivaquine. When I became an adult nivaquine became resistant to malaria .Oh my God I hated taking the medicine because it was so bitter but at least it protected us against malaria. We used to pray for heavy rain to fall because heavy rains help to wash away the mosquitoes and also cleaned the gutters. We never really cared where the rain will doom the waste insofar as the gutters around our vicinity were clean, and that was really selfish I think because wherever it deposited it contain, it will accumulate and become another breathing ground for mosquitoes. Later on in life when my parents build our home they covered the windows with nets. The windows could be left open and still no mosquitoes will come through because the nets on the window prevented them from coming through and I really thought that was great. That was my mother and her fight against malaria,


Ways of preventing malaria


- Use of insecticide-treated bed nets. Most often one can buy these treated bed nets form some pharmacies and also there are bought from health center and they are given to pregnant women .One still have to take note that usually not all health centers have these nets to give out.
- The use of indoor residual spraying is very effective in preventing malaria, because some of these insecticides can last from 3 to 6 months while some other insecticides may even last from 9 to 12 months
- Use of intermittent presumptive treatment during pregnancy, it is very nice if a pregnant woman takes these drugs they will help to fight malaria in her body. Also these preventive drugs should be given to people travelling to tropical areas.
-Early diagnosis and prompt treatment. This is very important. Most of the time from what I had observed while growing up and as an adult many people did not go to the hospital, when they fell sick they did self diagnoses and just presume they had malaria, they either bought drugs from vendors who carried drugs around in baskets and these guys had no medical know how . These drugs were exposed to the sun and expired and most of the time fake. It is imperative that people go to the hospitals and get a lab test then the doctor can prescribe the type of malaria drugs they have to take and in what dose they need to take them .Drugs should be gotten from a pharmacy where drugs are kept under the right temperature and are in safe conditions and they are not fake.
- The environment should be kept clean, good sanitation conditions are necessary in the prevention of malaria. When we finally left the capital city and were leaving in another province, it was much cleaner. Every month everybody had to go out and clean the roads and the surrounding Dooming of waste on the roads or in the gutter was prohibited .The community made sure that nobody broke the rules. It was just amazing. No stagnant water and smelling water and we kids love that environment
-We are waiting for the vaccine to be created which will help in preventing malaria, and research is said to be on going
-Carry sensitization campaigns .This campaigns will help the community gain more knowledge on malaria prevention


Preventing other deceases at a global level



Fighting deceases at a global level is very important. People in poor areas benefit from them, because it they are left only in the hands of their governments not much will be done and the fact that there is a lack of health services in these areas and no political will to do so.

A global campaign is necessary so as to create awareness. This is been done but more needs to be done because people still do not know how some of these infectious deceases are being transmitted or what they need to do in case of exposure and prevention .In the case of HIV there is need for education on the importance of the condom (although abstainace, and being faithful are part of the campaigns know that it is often difficult for people to be) and how there should be used. I can still remember during an HIV campaign when I was still a university student back in my home country, condoms were given to lecturers to distribute to students, but many lecturers did not find the courage to distribute these condoms. It was shocking that lecturers found it difficult to give out these condoms. They said they were too embarrassed to be seen distributing condoms and doing that would mean encouraging students to have sex.Parents also find themselves in this type of predicament but the reality is their children are having sex and as such something needs to be done. So there is a need to train people that would talk about this to student freely and who do not attach any stigma on sex. Since most of the time parent really fined it difficult to talk about this issues, schools should come up with curriculum to teach student and also provide places where student can go seek guidance.


At a global level funds should be made available that will help other less developing countries in their health care to provide for a free HIV test .If a fee is levied then it should be at a minimal cost at most community clinics, and at health fairs. Also anti retroviral drugs should be affordable and in some cases free to those suffering in addition to that free anti retroviral drugs should be provided to pregnant women and in case their children are infected same should be done for them. More effort should be carried out to expand access to antiretroviral therapy which is said to be only available to less than 10% of those that urgently require it.

As we know HIV and TB is said to form a lethal combination so it is important that global policy on the control of HIV-related TB and advises on how those fighting against TB and HIV can work together as is being done by WHO and its international partners

A service should be made available where if infected with either HIV or TB you can go there for treatment. This may be done by contributing to the health services of less developed countries. Resources must be invested in building and strengthening health systems and also access to
essential medicines should be made available.


It can be said that at the global level certain things are being put in place for prevention of these decreases. The UN Millennium Development Goals have been put in place which is global action plan to achieve the eight anti-poverty goals by 2015.The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide concrete, numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme poverty in its many dimensions. This is because by tackling poverty more can be achieve in relation to health care and health. Thus achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will translate to health for all citizens.


My Thought


Growing up and seeing many people around me die of HIV AID I get to understand what the family feels like and what goes on. Having lost three family members to AID and also having a family member battling AID present I have come to understand the power of information. But it was a shame that during this time when these my family member were sick it was so difficult for elders in the family tell us the younger ones what these relatives were suffering from. I quite remember that they made us understand that they were poison. The debate heated between the elders when my father said we the younger ones deserve to know what this was all about. I remember he sat us down against the advice of the other elders and told us what was going on and how we needed to protect ourselves from the disease. He made us understand what this sickness was all about and how we could contract it and how it could be prevented. It was just shocking to me that something like this was kept from us. When I look back what was important to my father was that we stay alive and health for him talking about sex was a little price to pay compared to our lifes. Information has the power to change socitiey.What people do with information when they receive can change a situation drastically
I still cannot believe how people die from diseases that can be prevented, since much is not even need to prevent these diseases. It is therefore important that at the grass root, the community should be able to come together to help prevent these preventable diseases. For me when people die of diseases that can be prevented I wonder if there is simple the lack of will power to do so.
Governments have a great part to play. If you look at democratic societies they is always the tendency that these societies turn to provide basic facilities to their citizen, but in undemocratic society, underdevelopment is more relavant.There is corruption and embezzlement which have left the greater part of the society poor .So at this level they is need for a proactive civil society because as long as poverty exist people will continue to die of preventable sickness. It also follows that women should be educated so that the fight against poverty can be achieved. Societies should be able to prevent preventable diseases.


References

Ruxin, J., Paluzzi, J., Wilson, P., Tosan, Y., Kruk, M. & Teklehaimanot, A. 2005. Emerging consensus in HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and access to essential medicines. (pdf) The Lancet, Vol. 365 (12), 618-621.
/www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/TheLancetHealth.pdf
//www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
//www.undp.org/mdg/basics