Update: Malaria Prevention

As we have mentioned in previous posts, Rainy Season is upon us. And with the rain comes LOTS of bugs as well as a huge increase in mosquitoes and therefore malaria. Thus, we have recently been working to prevent malaria transmission in our village.

Firstly, since we fixed the pumps, we have been working with the Water and Sanitation Committee to dig a drainage pit at each pump. This is important because once the pumps are fixed, the area around it becomes extremely muddy because women will gather to wash clothes and dishes and will dump their water in the same place. As James recently described it to a villager, it becomes the ‘mosquito maternity’. So although we have been educating people about the dangers of standing water in our community, it is an important part of the pump repair project that we include covered drainage pits to reduce it.  This piece to the project has taken much longer than we hoped due both to the procrastinating “we’ll do it tomorrow” Malian work ethic combined with the speedy arrival of planting season. However, we are finally completing them as I write this post :) So hopefully we can have them covered before the next big rain.

The other activity that has taken up a good deal of time is teaching various community groups how to make a mosquito repellent cream from the leaves of the local Neem tree.  Though everyone knows they should sleep under a mosquito net, most Malians don't go to bed til 10 or 11 pm. Instead, they sit and chat with their family and neighbors for hours while the mosquitoes are out. So if people can start using mosquito repellent it could make a huge difference. And the recipe is simple: First, boil a few handfuls of leaves in 1 L of water. Next, cut up a bar of soap. Remove the leaves and add the soap. Stir until the soap is liquid.  Remove from fire. Add 8 balls of shea butter and stir until it cools and thickens to a cream. All done! 

In the past few weeks, we have taught a local literacy group in Kongodugu and a Women’s association in Duguba how to make the cream. Everyone we’ve trained has gotten very excited about the repellent because the ingredients are cheap and readily available, and they can make a small profit. This is also an exciting activity for us because it not only will prevent malaria in our village but since it will become a small source of income, the vendors have a vested interest in spreading the message about malaria prevention.  Some of the women have started selling it in our village market and its grown in popularity at a surprising rate. We constantly have people stopping by asking if we’re selling it and we are happy to direct them to their own neighbors who are now making weekly batches.

Lastly, we have been reinforcing all of the malaria prevention methods (reducing standing water, making mosquito repellent, sleeping under a mosquito net) on the Numujo and Ashata radio show :) Its a great way to start addressing the superstitions/misinformation people have about malaria (i.e. it comes from mangos, eggs, or food with too much oil) in a nonthreatening way.

Thanks for reading!

~Joye