Hello everyone,

This is world Malaria month and Peace Corps Volunteers are trying the spread the word about malaria in Africa. According to the UNICIF website, 4 million Zambians are affected by Malaria each year. Approximately 4500 people die from malaria in Zambia and of those 50% are children under the age of 5. Also, malaria makes up 20% of all maternal deaths. The important thing to remember is that malaria is preventable and treatable. This is why PC volunteers among others are pushing to educate their communities and anyone who will listen. This includes sleeping under an Insecticide Treated Net (ITN), wearing long clothing that protects from mosquitoes, staying inside from dusk until dawn when malaria carrying mosquitoes are feeding, and draining pools of stagnant water. Also, it is important to spread the word about prevention of malaria during pregnancy. Because the malaria parasite attacks the placenta and women often falsely test negative during pregnancy, taking Intermittent presumptive treatment (IPTp) called Fansidar is very important. Some of the outcomes of placental malaria include low birth weight, preterm delivery, intrauterine growth retardation, fetal anemia, congenital malaria, and fetal mortality (Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine).

In the effort to teach about malaria in Zambia, PCV’s are working hard to earn points for malaria related activities. This blog earns my province (Central) 10 points! In addition, I have worked with my communities youth group to educate about malaria 15 points, write a malaria song 30 points, perform a sketch about malaria prevention 20 points, and change my facebook picture 5 points. I am also planning a malaria event on the 25^th of April. My counterpart along with clinic staff and neighborhood health workers will demonstrate the proper way to hang, sleep under, care for, and repair a mosquito net, talk about the importance of completing malaria medication, protecting children, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems from malaria, draining pools of water around public areas such as boreholes etc. It is also important to dispel common myths about malaria including that it is spread from drinking dirty water.

Thank you for your help and for taking the time to read about our efforts. Let’s keep working to STOMP out malaria!!

Stomping Out Malaria in Africa is a Peace Corps initiative that uses strategic partnerships, targeted training Volunteers and intelligent use of information technology to support the local malaria prevention efforts of over 3,000 Volunteers in sub-Saharan Africa. For more information go to stompoutmalaria.org and follow Stomp activities at http://www.facebook.com/StompOutMalaria.