Thinking about malaria on International Women’s Day

Malaria is a disease which affects half of the world’s population and leads to nearly one million deaths every year, 90% of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to contracting this disease because their immunity to malaria is reduced during pregnancy. The parasite migrates to the placenta and multiplies there. Mothers may suffer from severe infection, anaemia and even death. For the infant, malaria can lead to complications such as low birth-weight, spontaneous abortion and stillbirth: up to 200,000 newborn deaths every year are attributable to malaria.

One strategy for protecting pregnant women is Intermittent Preventative Treatment (IPT) – this requires women to take two doses of anti-malaria medicine over the course of their pregnancy to boost their immunity. However, this strategy has been largely neglected and in 2008 only 20% of pregnant women in Africa were receiving two doses of IPT. Ensuring that all pregnant women sleep under a bednet would also contribute to reducing malaria cases among this population. We need to see a significant scale-up of such measures before the Millennium Development target to eliminate deaths due to malaria by 2015 can be achieved.

Women need not be passive victims of malaria – they have an important role to play in any scale-up of such measures. In many countries, the majority of front line health workers who distribute bednets and treat malaria cases are women. Women also play a major role as voluntary or paid community health workers who bring malaria prevention and treatment to the grassroots.

Visiting Mali last summer, I saw this theory in practice: in the community of Yirimadjo, Project Muso has trained 26 local women to work as Community Health Workers. Each of these is responsible for a sector of around 2,000 people. They spend a few hours every morning visiting their neighbourhood, actively seeking out cases of malaria. If a Community Health Worker visits a woman who is pregnant she will accompany her to the local health clinic, where – thanks to the fund provided by Project Muso – she will receive free anti-natal treatment, including IPT and a bednet. As the Community Health Workers have established good relationships with the residents in their sector, they can revisit pregnant women to ensure that they go back for the second dose of IPT.

Madou, a Community Health Worker, told a story of a man that she met. His wife was pregnant after having had several miscarriages. Because Project Muso offers free prenatal consultations for pregnant women, his wife was able to go to the clinic and discover that she and her fetus had incompatible blood types. Once again, Project Muso stepped in and paid the 65,000 CFA, a sum far beyond the family’s means, for a treatment to prevent complications. Madou’s trusting relationship with the family ensured an early diagnosis and Project Muso’s committement to the community allowed for a treatment that would otherwise never have been affordable. Now, both mother and child are healthy and well.

Stories such as this have inspired me: they show that no matter how difficult the situation may seem, a coordinated passionate effort on behalf of women like Madou, can make a tangible difference.

Happy International Women’s Day!

To help support the empowerment of women in Mali, join the ‘Walk for Women’ on the 14th March. Or donate here: www.faithsactfellows.org/chasethemosquito. All funds donated here will be matched by Tony Blair, making them worth double!

For further reading:

http://www.who.int/malaria/world_malaria_report_2009/en/index.html - World Malaria Report 2009

http://www.who.int/features/2003/04b/en/

http://www.globalpost.com/webblog/health/international-women8217s-day-8230-and-malaria