wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 035-Letter from Uganda: Menace of malaria still

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Letter from Uganda: Menace of malaria still threatens Africans

Jan. 20, 2006

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

By the Rev. Larry Hollon*

KAMPALA, Uganda (UMNS) - The rains have come to central Uganda. This is
good.

But it also means the menace of malaria will return as well. This is the
experience of Rossette Kemigish, school nurse at the United
Methodist-related orphanage and primary school known as Humble Place in
Mukono District, about 30 kilometers outside Kampala.

Last year, she treated 279 children for malaria in a school with fewer
than 200 students. It's a persistent challenge to stay ahead of the
mosquito-borne disease in this humid, wet climate.

She explains that the school administrators are attentive to her
suggestions for environmental improvements that minimize the opportunity
for mosquitoes to breed in standing water or the rain catchment tanks
the school uses to supplement its water supply.

When she saw standing pools around faucets where children wash their
dishes, she advised school administrators to provide better drainage.
They did. When she discovered the fittings for the rain catchment tank
had spaces that allowed mosquitoes entry points to the water, the school
officials sealed the fittings.

On a larger scale, the Rev. Robert Ssajjabi, founder of the school,
tells visitors how wetlands in the low-lying area owned by the church
were major breeding grounds for mosquitoes and required more substantial
change. A stream runs through the area and adjacent soil was being dug
by local brick makers to make bricks, leaving deep pits that collected
water. The bricks were formed and fired in tall stacks next to the pits.

When the church bought the property, Rev. Ssajjabi said the area was
live with mosquitoes. He hired workers to drain the pits and eventually
leveled the ground so it drains to the stream. He also constructed two
fish ponds stocked with tilapia and catfish. The fish eat the mosquito
larvae, creating a natural preventative. Today, it's possible to stand
on the banks of the pond and never see a mosquito.

These and other small but very important changes can make a big
difference, Kemigish says. For example, the children are encouraged to
wear long trousers and long-sleeve shirts when they play outside.

She teaches parent education classes on how to water gardens and trees
to avoid standing water. She explains that tin cans and other debris
provide breeding places. Areas around homes must be kept clean. She
encourages children to stay away from the nearby stream and, most
importantly, she encourages the whole family to sleep under
insecticide-treated bed nets.

She has become an expert of sorts on malaria. She explains the
categories of symptoms and the various levels of treatment required for
individuals at particular stages of the disease. While fever and nausea
are common to all, malaria manifests itself slightly differently among
people of different ages. Kemigish knows each and keeps a watchful eye
on the children in school, and she takes preventive measures when they
go home to their families.

Malaria is so common in the country that the Uganda Ministry of Health's
Clinical Guidelines tells health workers to assume that a person in a
malaria-infested area displaying symptoms has the condition and to treat
them with appropriate prophylaxis until proven otherwise.

For more complicated symptoms, the commission recommends blood tests,
but it's important to get medication started as soon as symptoms appear
to prevent the progression of the disease, which the World Health
Organization says results in the death of a child every 30 seconds
worldwide.

Kemigish has prepared for the return of children from the holiday break
by laying in sufficient medical supplies for treating the condition. She
knows that the rains have come, and so will malaria.

* * *
Editor's note: A special fund for the United Methodist Community Based
Malaria Prevention Program has been established with the denomination's
Advance for Christ and His Church, a "second-mile" voluntary giving
program. The Advance Special offers a way for United Methodists to
participate in the malaria program as individuals or through local
churches, districts and conferences. As a mission project, the program
touches upon issues of health care, poverty and the needs of children.

Donations, payable to the United Methodist Committee on Relief, should
be designated to Advance No. 982009, "Malaria Control." Checks can be
dropped in church collection plates or mailed directly to UMCOR at P.O.
Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068. Credit-card gifts can be made by
calling (800) 554-8583 or going online to www.umc.org.

*Hollon is chief executive of United Methodist Communications. This
commentary, taken from Hollon's personal blog, also has been posted by
TIME magazine on its global health blog.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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