UNEP Junior Board Maiken Hamaluba

Myths Concerning Malaria

I'm John , from Ivory Coast / Côte d'Ivoire, a french-speaking country in
> West Africa, situated between Liberia and Ghana ..just for those who may
> not locate us easily....
>
> I approve of SLAM and I joined only recently...Now Christaine is talking
> about myths, etc...
> It is interesting to note that in my country when you go to the rural areas
> and you ask the people what causes malaria, you'll hear all sorts of
> causes ...In most cases the word mosquito NEVER comes out..
> You get answers such as..........
> 1. When you work or walk for too long in the sun you get malaria
> 2. When you eat too much fatty foods like palm oil you get malaria
> 3..When you drink too much palm-wine, or when you eat too much of garden egg
> soup, etc, etc..
> There is a legend in parts of the country where it is believed that
> malaria is transmitted by WITCHCRAFT ........
> In one particular zone where this belief is very strong they have a vast
> expanse of marshy land where they grow RICE all year round....The mosquito
> population is actually very closely related to this agricultural practice,
> but.....
>
> This is why EDUCATION is very important and I believe that we can organize
> student leaders to go to the rural areas during the long vacations for
> example, to spread the CORRECT FACTS about the real cause of malaria.....
> Funny enough when the under-fives have serious malaria and they get to the
> convulsion stage,or when the child becomes stiff..... the parents rush the
> child to a FETISH PRIEST first, instead of going to the hospital or nearest
> clinic...They DON'T know that it is malaria.....So these are some of the
> information or facts we should be looking at to give and explain when we
> visit our rural folk....


HI All
>
> This is an absolutely great idea. In trying to save lives here in Assam,
> India we find that the greatest challenge is to counter myths and
> perceptions about the disease.
>
> My paper titled 'End Malaria-Dream or reality an insight into local beliefs
> and perceptions' highlighted these myths and was accepted for poster
> presentaion at the recent National conference on emerging issues in Public
> Health at Achuta Menon Centre for Health science studies, Sree Chitra
> Tirunal Institute for medical Science and Technology, Trivandrum in January
> 2008.
>
> I beleive that this film with inputs from around the world can help
> governments and NGOS and policy makers to rethink malaria prevention and
> control strategies with greater emphasis on education (not awareness) and we
> could see a difference.
>
> GREAT IDEA!!
>
> All the best. Please let us know if we here in India can help in any way
>
> Pratibha

Botswana Malaria anti- Malaria team hosted by the State President - Mr Festus G. Mogae

On 21st November, 2007 the State President Mr Festus Mogae of Botswana invited Tommie Hamaluba and his students who are involved in the fight against Malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS to his office for the team to shed more light into what they are doing. This was a clear vindication of the great work toward the malaria education campaingn done in August, 2007 by the team which was joined by Bill Meyers from Colorado, USA. What a moment for the team to interact with his excellency for about 2 hours!

My hats off to the malaria foundation and Alexandar Dawson School through Bill Meyers for the great support they give us in this noble cause!

Remember, you too can save life and make a difference!

Malaria efforts acknowledged by the State President - Mr Festus Mogae

malaria and the digital divide

Dear Muhammad,

It will be nice for my students to learn from your students since, as you said, you live in a malaria endemic region. Let me tell you a little about my school and students. My students are 13 and 14 years old. We are a school with 420 students in a town about 40 Km from the city of Denver. We are in are very close to the rocky mountains and at an elevation of 1500 m. I teach Life Science and Earth Science at this school.

I understand your problem with internet connectivity. We have been working for several years with a school in Kenya that does not have internet or reliable electricity in their school. The teacher from that school will hopefully join our conversation. Where are the computers that you use? Do you have to pay for your internet time at a cafe? If so, how do you get the money to pay for this? Do your students have access to computers at a cafe?

I hope that we can find a way for our students to communicate through email and the blog.

All the best,
Bill

Muhammad Umar - introduction

Dear Bill Meyers

With reference to Dr. Mary mail, i am written to introduce myself to you and the members of SYAHD team which are now part of this global campaign to End Malaria using Blue Ribbon as a symbol which we hope will bring unity among the growing number of individuals and organizations working to fight Malaria.

However, SYAHD team members would work closely with you while continue to ensure that student have take part of this campaign. I was also among the Leaders forming the leaders of tomorrow (SLAM network), heading the campaign in my country Nigeria West Africa with SYAHD team members being actively participating into the campaign starting with in-school activities to identify student leaders.

Finally, we have not yet launch the campaign because we’re still waiting for the official Blue ribbons package to arrive any time from now, but in the absence of that our students made their own EM-BR home version and today 4th October, 2007 we have swing into action before launching our campaign in November / December, 2007 depending upon the time our package arrive.

Pictures of our 1st Blue ribbon End Malaria activity in northern Nigeria Africa would be forward to MFI for publication anytime from now. We thank you very much for your dedication while continue working with you and your students to ensure effective life saving and building a growing SLAM network.

Thank you very much, regards to your students who actively participate and share their views in ENO network.

Yours sincerely,

Muhammad Umar

Dear Muhammad Umar,

Thank you very much for writing. First let me ask you to please call me Bill as I consider us to be friends and colleagues in our work with students to fight malaria. It is wonderful to see what you are doing in your country. I hope to learn from you to see how my students can help. What will your students do during your campaign? I am not familiar with the EM-BR that you refer to. Will you please explain this?

Do your students have access to computers? It would be nice if our students could communicate with each other and share ideas. They could use the SLAM Blog and email.

What do you think about us putting this email on the Educational Network Blog ( http://mfiednet.blogspot.com/) so that others can share in our conversation?

I look forward to seeing your pictures on the MFI website and working with you and your students.

All the best,
Bill