Malaria Season in Malawi
Malaria Season in Malawi
It is summer in Malawi and a woman waits in the hospital. Her child is critically sick. She is so worried seeing her child lying helplessly, waiting to get the next injection. A few hours later, the woman is seen shivering, throwing up, her body temperature is high and she complains of body pains. The doctors attend to her and she is diagnosed and she also starts receiving her treatment.
They both have malaria and are admitted at a 24-hour clinic at Kasese Health Center on Orant’s campus in Kasese, Malawi.
This situation mirrors what happens in most hospitals during the months of November through April when malaria transmission risk is the highest in Malawi.
What is malaria?
As one of the poorest countries in the world, Malawi suffers from a disproportionate burden of infectious diseases, particularly malaria. Malaria continues to be a major public health issue with an estimated 6.2 million cases each year. As in most of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), children under the age of five years bear the highest burden of malaria.
Malaria is an acute febrile illness caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are spread to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. The early symptoms include fever, headache and chills which usually appear 10–15 days after the infective mosquito bites and may be mild and difficult to recognize as malaria. Left untreated, malaria can progress to severe illness and death within a period of 24 hours.
Treating malaria in Malawi
“My one-and-a-half year old son started feeling unwell on the morning of Tuesday the 15th. He just had a mild cough. But the situation started worsening the next day at night when he started vomiting, passing loose stools and having high fever,” tells Charity Steven.
For Charity, seeing her son, Arnold, and herself showing signs of malaria, she was reminded of that fateful day when her neighbor lost her child to malaria. The images of this sad experience kept cropping her mind and she rushed to Kasese Health Center.
The outcome of malaria sickness in Malawi
“Malaria really kills. I have been to more than five funerals whose cause was malaria sickness. Thanks to Orant Healthcare for saving my life and my son’s life,“ says the mother of three, smiling ear to ear.
Malaria needs to be treated with every available care as it can be deadly if left untreated. Having enough test kits and anti-malarial drugs in hospitals during the malaria season helps save lives of people like Charity and her son Arnold. Orant’s mission includes ensuring that all those afflicted with malaria receive the proper treatment.
How you can help treat malaria in Malawi
Orant depends on donations from people like you to treat those suffering from malaria. You can support malaria testing a treatment for as little as $5 or click the links below to share this article with your friends and family.
