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