Malaria

I went to a meeting of the Society of Malawi at the Blantyre Sports Club this evening.

It took the form of a panel discussion and open forum on the subject of Malaria in Malawi, chaired by Professor Malcolm Molyneux, a British doctor who is an expert in the field and is based at the hospital here.  He was joined by four doctors involved in the battle against the disease in Malawi, including a paediatrician, an entomologist, a doctor with extensive experience of working in the  rural areas in Malawi, and another who specialises in communicating about the disease and its treatment.

Whilst on the face of it, this could have been a "dry" evening, it turned out to be really interesting.  Although working from an admittedly low base, I learned a huge amount about how malaria works, what impact it can have on those who contract it, and what initiatives are being undertaken in Malawi to address the issues.  Malaria is transmitted by infected female Anopheles mosquitos.  These mosquitos are known as "vectors" - the vehicles for the transfer of the malarial  parasites to and between humans, but are in effect innocents exploited by the parasites.  The female mosquitos need to get to red blood cells to allow them to produce fertile eggs.  If they bite an infected person or animal, the parasites are taken into the mosquito's gut where they develop for a few days before the mosquito bites again when they move across into the potentially uninfected victim.

It was frightening to learn, for example, that only around 50% of children who contract malaria and have a fever actually present at a hospital or health centre.  The mortality rate is still quite high, especially for children, but is improving.

But at the same time, there is significant progress being made.  Particularly impressive was the fact that since 2003, the proportion of children under 5 years old sleeping under impregnated nets in Malawi has increased from 3% to over 60%, thanks in large part to the provision of donor-funded mosquito nets into the country.

Lesson for the day - definitely use a mosquito net. Having said that, being winter here, and with Blantyre being quite high up, it's a bit cold for mosquitos right now - December to April are key months and by then I'll be out of here.