MALARIA: A DISEASE WITHOUT BORDERS
26/04/2008
By Kini Nsom, The Post
Malaria is a hoodoo whose multi-faceted adverse effects run across the globe and constitute a bane of progress to the entire humanity in all its ramifications. It is in this perspective that the theme of the first World Malaria Day, to be celebrated on April 25, speaks volumes and represents a telltale phrase as to how much global effort should be made to dare the disease.
The theme: “Malaria: a disease without borders” is virtually a snapshot of the disease as the greatest killer, especially in Sub Saharan Africa. Malaria surreptitiously imposed itself as a major public health concern in many countries recently and jilted stakeholders out of the fallacious belief that only HIV/AIDS was a threat to their citizens. That is why African governments issued the Abuja Declaration in 2005, committing themselves to combating the killer disease.
For one thing, the disease is not only a health problem, but also a socio- economic jinx. According to statistics from the National Malaria Control Programme, NMCP, malaria is the greatest cause of death in Cameroon. The greatest victims are pregnant women and children below five years.
It accounts for 45 percent consultation and 54 percent of hospitalization in hospitals around the country. Malaria saps a way 40 to 45 percent of household revenue and for absences in schools and work places. But the irony is that unlike HIV/AIDS, malaria can both be prevented and cured. Negligence, ignorance and sheer carelessness are some of the factors that have enabled the disease to eat very deep into the fabric of our society.
Thus, passing on information as to how citizens can prevent, diagnose or cure malaria is a laudable patriotic act that should be performed by all and sundry. When stakeholders roll out the drums to commemorate this year’s World Malaria; it will also be time for them to ponder over accelerating the onslaught. It should not only be talk-talk but an act-act deal to give the onslaught against malaria an unprecedented kink.
While highlighting the theme of the World Malaria Day, the Executive Director of the Cameroon Coalition Against Malaria, CCAM, Prof. Rose Leke, avoided quarrelling with semantics. “Ask yourself in any little corner you happen to be what you are doing to contribute to the fight against malaria. Malaria affects all of us” she said. Although Prof. Leke was addressing participants at the CCAM second General Assembly that held in Yaounde recently, the message is for the entire Cameroonian Society.
It is a fervent appeal for every one to contribute his or her own quota in the fight against malaria. Thus, the onslaught is not only for government alone. It should be a synergy for government, civil society, health authorities and citizens. From this premises, the funds jointly contributed by government and the Global Fund for Malaria, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis will bring no succor if the stakeholders are not committed in fight against the disease. This commitment lies in the zeal to right the wrongs that have stalled the fight against the disease in one way or the other. If authorities in some hospitals siphoned the Artesunate-Amordiaque and Lumefanthrine- Arthemiter combinations (that have been subsidized to make them affordable for patients) in order to illegally line their pockets the fight will be doomed. If some authorities continue to run shady deals with money that has been allocated for the fight against the disease, malaria will continue to triumph over its victims.
If people ignore the appeal for them to sleep under insecticide-treated mosquito nets, if they shun the authority’s appeal to them to keep their surroundings clean, malaria will continue to grow from strength to strength. Patients will not help the fight if they decide to embark on self- medication, after suspecting malaria, instead of doing a proper diagnosis in order to take the right drugs. Any patient who feels feverish and goes directly to buy drugs without consulting a doctor is causing more harm to himself. For one thing, self-medication is done in total ignorance and total disregard of the drug dosage required.
Those who conceived the theme of the World Malaria Day were not gamblers. It is a well thought-out and well-crafted idea that carries with it, a strong appeal to all stakeholders to shoulder responsibility and contribute their own quota to the fight against malaria. It is not an ephemeral message that will be stale as soon as curtains come down on the World Malaria Day. It is an epoch-surviving appeal that will span across generations to come. It is an appeal for sustainable commitment against a disease that takes away the life of one child after every 30 seconds. It is incumbent on every one of us to fight malaria.
