Blog About Malaria Month

April is blog about malaria month, and I thought I'd give it a shot.

For loads of information about malaria and it's effect, visit http://stompoutmalaria.org/

A few factoids:

• Malaria is spread by mosquitos.
• "In the year 2005 alone, World Health Organization estimates indicated that malaria infected between 350 and 500 million people and killed over 1 million, 90% of whom lived in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of those were children"-stompoutmalaria.org
• By 2010, malaria deaths had dropped to 655,000, mostly due to the widespread distribution of mosquito nets

I have no experience with malaria, but I hear that it is a terrible sickness that I could experience during my time in Moz.

I have a friend named Peter who spent some time in Africa a few years back and was unfortunate enough to get malaria.  I've not forgotten his description to this day: "Imagine that you had killed the flu, and that its bigger, badder ex-convict cousin was coming back to exact revenge on you."

PCV's take one of two types of medication for malaria profylaxis.  One is doxy, which is taken orally every day and in one friend of mine has also helped to clear up acne.  The other is lariam.  I take lariam once a week on a full stomach.  One of the more exciting side effects of lariam is lucid dreams.  I can't recall any specific dreams, but I try to take my lariam pill as closely to bed time as I can (I want to get my monies worth).

In all seriousness, malaria is a serious sickness in Africa which effects nearly everyone.  Many PCV's, as well as countless workers from numerous organizations, spend a significant amount of time battling malaria.  I've heard more than one story from PCV's who have had students, friends, or even foster family members die from malaria during their service.  With continued focus on educating against and battling this sickness, the number of deaths will continue to fall in Africa and Mozambique.