Malaria
Introduction
Peace Corps Volunteers in all regions of Senegal are leading efforts to prevent #malaria, one of the the primary causes of child mortality in the country. Volunteers are providing malaria prevention education and have led insecticide-treated mosquito bed net distribution campaigns that have become a model for NGOs and governments all across Africa. These efforts have led to the first large-scale universal bed net distribution in the history of Senegal, which by the end of 2011 will have succeeded in covering 10 of the country’s 14 regions, including all the areas where the disease is most prevalent.
Nearly three-quarters of a million children a year die of malaria, and nearly 90% of those children are in sub-Saharan Africa. Pregnant mothers also bear a disproportionate share of the malaria burden, and malaria-induced anemia can be fatal during childbirth. Even beyond these two vulnerable groups, malaria is a tremendous drag on health and productivity for all of Senegalese society.
Peace Corps Senegal is working to combat malaria by joining forces with several key organizations, including the government’s National Malaria Control Program, USAID and the President’s Malaria Initiative, NetWorks, Malaria No More, Against Malaria, and others. Our shared vision is a long-lasting insecticide-treated net over every bed in Senegal, combined with universal education on how to prevent malaria. Studies shows that this universal coverage technique is much more effective in reducing the endemic nature of malaria than piecemeal solutions because it cuts off the mosquitos from their supply of human blood, eliminating their ability to keep spreading the disease. With mosquito net distributions and other interventions, we get closer to the goal of a malaria-free future every day.
The History of Peace Corps Senegal's Malaria Efforts
In 2009 and 2010, as a result of the efforts of Peace Corps Volunteers and their partners, an entire Health District in Senegal (Saraya, in the southeastern region of Kedougou) received comprehensive malaria prevention education and universal bed net coverage. For the first time in the history of Senegal, every man, woman and child in this health district was sleeping safely under a mosquito net. Critics who had been arguing that universal coverage was too costly and complicated to implement were silenced.
Following the success of the Saraya campaign, Peace Corps Senegal partnered in 2010 with the government of Senegal, Malaria No More, Tostan and World Vision to provide universal coverage and malaria education in the District of Velingara, located in the south-central region of the country. The effort in Velingara, which is home to five times the population of Saraya, demonstrated that these distribution and education methodologies could be scaled up and replicated effectively.
As 2010 and 2011 progressed, new partners adopted the Peace Corps method of universal coverage. Working in concert, the distribution moved north and west, covering every bed in every hut and home. The regions of Kedougou, Kolda, Sedhiou, Tambacounda, Kaolack, Kaffrine, Fatick and Diourbel were completely covered by August of 2011. Later in 2011 the project will move on to the northern regions of Senegal, then on to Ziguinchor, Thies and Dakar. Once the entire country is covered, the partners will turn to continuing projects of supply chain management and small-scale redistributions to ensure that treated mosquito nets are always available in local health posts and pharmacies, along with the ongoing challenge of ensuring that everyone who does become sick with malaria seeks and receives treatment quickly.
Peace Corps Senegal Volunteers have been deeply integrated in these campaigns, and they will continue to bring their unique skills to bear on malaria prevention and education projects across the country. Volunteers are focused on using their local language skills and deep cultural integration to conduct effective education activities, to help ensure that delivered nets are used correctly, that treatment is quickly sought for the ill, and to evaluate impact through post-distribution, compound-to-compound assessments.
As extensive as our work with bed nets is, Volunteers are also deeply engaged with other types of interventions. These include theater tours, neem lotion products, supply chain management and others. We assist many local partners with their particular malaria-related goals, including PATH/MACEPA’s groundbreaking pre-elimination program in the Richard Toll district of Senegal.
Stomping Out Malaria in Africa
Inspired by the successes in Senegal, every Peace Corps program on the continent has committed to stepping up their malaria prevention programs through the creation of the Stomping Out Malaria in Africa initiative, a groundbreaking partnership with the President’s Malaria Initiative.
Now, all of the 3,000 volunteers in 25 programs across Africa are teaming up, exchanging ideas for new programs and spreading the inspiration and knowledge around. Recurring malaria “boot camps,” held at the Peace Corps training facility in Thies, Senegal, bring current volunteers, staff members, new Peace Corps Response recruits and Peace Corps Volunteer Leaders together to learn. Leading experts in malariology share their knowledge while volunteers and staff members share their countries’ best practices. At the end of each boot camp, these volunteers and staff members return to their posts armed with new ways to fight malaria, and ready to pass that on to every volunteer in their countries.
The initiative’s goals include the immediate introduction of universal mosquito net coverage in every Peace Corps village and community across Africa, as well as a 50% reduction in malaria deaths by 2015. For more information about the Stomp initiative, and to see what Peace Corps volunteers across Africa are up to, check out the initiative's website here. You can also keep up with us on Facebook.
See for Yourself!
Read a volunteer's blog post about a recent neem lotion tourney in Kedougou, or one about a big mosquito net distribution.
Watch a video by RPCV April Williamson describing a mosquito net distribution in the Linguere region of Senegal.
Check out actor David Arquette's perspective on malaria in Senegal.
Watch the video actor Ed Helms filmed in Senegal to raise malaria awareness in the United States.
Read a study from the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab about why the free distribution of mosquito nets is one of the best interventions we have in the fight against malaria.
Partners
The President's Malaria Initiative
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