Malaria can Be Eliminated

She watched in pain as the doctors struggled to rescue her son. Often she wished she were the one on that bed. The none with that shrill cry. She wished she could replace her son for herself; she couldn’t. All she could do was watch. Look at her son in anguish as he struggled.

Mary Moraa had been a happy mother. She had just found her bundle of joy. She was twenty. Like any other mother, she had dreams for her son. Big dreams. Yet little known to her, fate would be knocking soon.

Her son had a mild fever. Like many in her village she thought a mixture of a few herbs would do the trick. They had worked before.

Moraa is among thousands of mothers whose children die of malaria related complications due to late admission to hospital for medical care. There were an estimated 660,000 malaria deaths around the world of which 86% of this were in children under five years of age worldwide according to WHO.

With under five mortality rate at 74 children dying per 1000 live births, Malaria in Kenya remains as a stumbling block in the fight with the highest against under five mortality. Whilst great strides have been made in the country towards reducing under five mortality, statistics remain high in Migori and Nyamira counties accounting for 149 and 58 per 1000 live births. Whilst the country seeks to meet the MDG six goal to have halted and begun to reverse the incidences of malaria and other major diseases by 2015, lots remains to be done, whilst this remain a pipe dream. This may remain a pipe dream if such statistics remain.

In a move to ensure reduction of the malaria cases and also as a way to foster reduction if poverty in the counties, most county governments have developed Health Strategic and Investment Plans in the spirit of devolution.

In Kuria for instance, thanks to programs implemented by Kenya NGOs Alliance Against Malaria great progress has been achieved in the fight against malaria and other communicable diseases. Community health Units and Community Health workers have been trained on malaria preventive measure and on malaria case management. Through such training and programs, they are able to educate their communities hence steady progress in the fight against malaria.

“If the progress seen thus far is maintained, then Kuria could be Malaria free by 2015” say Miriam Mbone, a KeNAAM field officer working in Kuria.

Getongorama Community health extension worker(CHEW), Mr. James Igayi says since KeNAAM started work in the region their is a high number of women attending the ANC clinic which was not the case earlier. This he attributes to training that have been conducted by KeNAAM trained community Units that are encouraging women to attend the clinics and also educating them on its importance. This is slowly helping remove the stigma associated with hospitals among the people.

Whilst commending the work done by KeNAAM, Igayi also made a plea that more training material should be distributed to aid the CHWs as they train the communities.

“To achieve the goals set out in the Kenya Health Strategic Plan 2013-2017, it must be a multi-sectoral approach. All stakeholder should be involved and not just the government.”Says Mr. Charles Mogaka, Nyamira county health promotion officer.

Malaria is preventable as it is curable. If every individual and institution were to play their role, cases such as Moraa’s will be distant history.

Whilst impressive steps have been made in the fight against malaria, more remains to be done to reduce the number of child deaths due to malaria related complications.