Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday!

That is sort of like the theme of this year’s Malaria Month. Children under 5 years of age are far more likely to contract malaria because they have not yet developed any resistance to the illness. And, at least according to what I’ve seen, people have to be pretty sick to actually go to the CSPS to get checked out. If you are a small child who can’t adequately express how sick you’re feeling, there’s a good chance you won’t be taken to the CSPS until your condition gets serious.

So what kinds of life saving activities have I been doing in village to ensure these kids make it to their 5th birthday? Let me tell you. I’ve been doing a lot of work in local schools, and not just because schools are a convenient place to find a large group of people who HAVE to sit and listen to me :) I really enjoy working with students and I believe if they get the information while they are relatively young (while still being old enough to understand it) it will stick with them more. They’ll be more likely to adopt good health practices because they haven’t had much time to develop and be engrained with poor health practices. The fact that you can do fun, goofy activities and you are adored for shaking up their boring school day doesn’t hurt either.

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve worked in different classrooms doing activities to explain what malaria is and how you get it (from mosquito bites, not from eating green mangoes or from doing too much work). We talk about the symptoms associated with malaria and what to do when you have them (go to the CSPS ASAP, not boil leaves from a tree you found in the bush and drink the concoction). And finally, we talk about the many ways they can decrease their chances of getting malaria. Many of them know they should sleep under a well-maintained mosquito net (whether they actually DO or not is another question entirely!) Some of them also know they should get rid of standing water in or near their courtyard so that mosquitos can’t lay their eggs there. But no one thinks about wearing pants and a shirt (i.e. proper clothing and not just their underwear!) when they’re out and about at night so they expose less skin as a mosquito target. They also have no idea of the mosquito-repelling power of neem leaves, a tree that grows in abundance all over village. In the one small class, we actually made a pot of neem cream together.

Tomorrow, I’ll be making neem cream with a group of women. To make a pot full (about the size of a stock pot/soup pot) it cost the equivalent of 35 cents and I estimate it would last one person at least half a month. Hopefully I am getting across the point that there are many inexpensive ways to reduce people’s risk of malaria.

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In addition to malaria activities, I’ve started working with a class of elementary school students to study for the Certificat d’Education Primaire (or CEP which is their elementary school degree). To pass obtain their CEP and continue to middle school or get a job, they must pass an extensive cumulative test. To help them study, I’ve been going in and playing CEP Jeopardy with them (shout out to the volunteer who created the manual/compiled all the questions!) It is a BLAST and according to their teacher, it seems to be motivating them to study. “Before you started playing this game with them, I’d give them time to study in groups and everyone just goofed off. Now all of the groups are actually studying. They want to win points for their team!” Well, if they can’t think ahead enough to study for a test that could determine their future, at least I can get them to study by promising them the glory of winning points for their team by answering a Jeopardy question correctly.

I am also half way through a nutrition program with a handful of mothers and their malnourished kids. Every morning for 12 days, we get together and make enriched porridge out of local ingredients for their children. My counterpart also gives a sensibilization on various health topics (nutrition, malaria, going to the CSPS when they’re sick, HIV/AIDS, etc.) while the porridge is cooking. At the end of the 12 days, the idea is that the mothers will a) see the benefits of making sure their children eat enough food as well as food with actual nutrients in it through their children’s weight gain, b) will have learned healthy, nutrient-filled recipes that are also inexpensive and easily accessible, and c) will learn about a variety of other health topics. More about that once the program is finished!

Well, that about sums up my last few weeks. TTFN, ta-ta for now!

April = Malaria Month!

Here in Burkina Faso, Peace Corps has named April Malaria Month and is dedicating the month to combating the disease with even more vim and vigor than usual.

Malaria is a disease that effects everyone in Burkina. In my village, 48% of the CSPS visits were to treat malaria. As I put an extra effort into malaria education this month, it astounds me how much people just accept malaria as a fact of life. Even when ways exist to prevent/decrease their chance of getting the disease, I find that people feel like they are going to get it no matter what they do so they don't put the effort into prevention.
So this month, my goal is to instill in my village a sense of power over this illness. I hope I can at least convince a few people that their prevention efforts DO make a difference.

I'll write more about my activities at the end of the month.
If you want more info, visit stompoutmalaria.org.