Physical Health Zambia Project #17792

Malaria Prevention Saves Lives

by The Butterfly Tree

Project Report | Nov 9, 2017
Mosquito Net Distribution - River View School

By Jane Kaye-Bailey | Founder

Some of the 1,250 pupils receiving mosquito nets

MALARIA PREVENTION PILOT SCHEME

River View School is in Sekute Chiefdom, Kazungula District, Southern Province of Zambia, close to the mighty Zambezi River.

The Butterfly Tree has recently funded the expansion of the school by adding four classrooms, 9 toilets and 100 desks. As a result the Ministry of Education has upgraded the faciility to a Secondary School, taking pupils from pre-school to grade 12.

As a charity we always take an holistic approach when working in rural communities. Besides education we look at the health issues. The situation of this school is in an area of high malaria prevalence, consequently the children are at risk of contracting this potentially deadly disease. Though the government has done a distibution of mosquito nets in the area, as always there is a shortfall.

To protect the health of all the children in this school we are doing a pilot scheme with the aim of reducing the number of malaria cases. Last month we gave out a mosquito net to each of the 1,250 pupils attending River View. In addition every teacher received one, and sufficient nets have been put aside for the new intake at the start of the school year in January.

The rainy season is about to start and will last until April. It is imperative that children are protected against malaria. At least for now the pupils at River View are assured that they have a bednet to sleep under and not be left out as is often the case. The reason for this is that under five children and pregnant women get priority and there are never enough nets to go round.

Malaria is the biggest killer of man. The Butterfly Tree is committed in helping the fight against malaria and is making a significant difference in the Kazungula District.

Links:

Malaria Prevention

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Aug 11, 2017
Malaria Prevention in Moomba Chiefdom

By Jane Kaye-Bailey | Chairman

Donation of mosquito nets

I have just returned from a short trip to Zambia after setting up a malaria prevention programme in Moomba Chiefdom. The area is located on the North-Western Side of Kazungula District, almost 300 km from Livingstone and 230 km from Kazungula border town. The landscape is undulating sand dunes with numerous lagoons, pans and seasonal swamps in hollows between the dunes. Dry grassland plains, teak forests and miombo woodlands cover the land. This type of landscape promotes stagnation of water perfect for mosquito breeding. The Chiefdom has a high prevalence of malaria The number of cases in the last three years are: 2014 1,755: 2015 2,000; 2016 1,655. This year 2,017 cases were recorded between January and the end of May.

Accompanied by Mupotola, Presley and Sibeso and setting off at 06.00 I drove for seven hours until we reached Moomba Village. We were met by dubious stares from the adults and apprehensive faces from the children until the nurse introduced us and told that people that we had come to help with their malaria problem. We donated much-needed medical supplies, jerseys for the baby clinic, which was taking place and blankets were given out to the most vulnerable children.

This Chiefdom has never been visited by any other charity or NGO. The Zambian government requested our support to help tackle the malaria problem. We donated 130 mosquito nets with a further 130 to be distributed next week. To provide maximum protection we will apply the safe insecticide coating inside each dwelling and larvicide granules, starting with villages with the highest prevalence of malaria.

There are thirteen villages dependent on this medical centre, which has only one nurse and an Environmental Officer. The nearest hospitals for serious malaria cases are Sichili Mission Hospital, which is 70km, and Livingstone General Hospital 290km. All referred patients must find their own way to these facilities

The village has a school with 380 pupils up to grade 7. The closest school for the pupils to continue their education is at Molabezi, some 23 km from the village centre. It was a joy meeting these shy children. Once they got used to us they posed for photographs, bursting into fits of giggles when they saw their images on a digital camera. The time went too quickly and after only a short stay in Moomba we had to head back to reach the main road before dark. A 590km round trip, 7 hours each way. 200km normal roads driving, 140km on roads with deep potholes and 250km off road, mostly on sandy tracks. We arrived back in Livingstone at 22.00.

Links:

Malaria

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Jul 14, 2017
Reduction in Malaria Cases

By Jane Kaye-Bailey | Chairman

Chuunga Community Receive Mosquito Nets

MALARIA PREVENTION

How our interventions are helping the Chuunga Community

87 cases in 2014, 32 cases in 2015, 20 cases in 2016 and 8 cases in 2017. No deaths from malaria have been recorded for five years.

Chuunga Village is one os the many communities that had a high prevalence of malaria. Prior to The Butterfly Tree's support the people had not been given any protection against malaria.

In a remote corner of the Mukuni Chiefdom, on high ground and rocky terraine, Chuunga becomes inaccessible during the rainy season when the fast-flowing rivers are too high to cross. I have visited this community several times - the hard working people, grow vegetables to earn an income, and have been madly effected by malaria.

The Minstry of Health relies on trained community workers to test and treat malaria. Martin, who is the key member, then has to cycle for several hours to reach Mukuni Health Centre for the lab technician to test to find out the strain of malaria. Martin is also the Head Teacher at their local school and gets paid very little, relying on minimum school fees from the pupils.

For the past fives years we have donated mosquito nets for this community. Then in November 2015 we coated the inside of each mud hut dwelling with an an insecticide sealed within a paint and placed granules in stagnant pools to prevent the larva from deveopling into mosuito.

Working with Sibeso Maseka, a Govenrment Environmental Officer, who volunteers her free time to the charity, regular monitoring and evaluation has been done. We are delighted with the results and aim to have no cases of malaria in the years to come.

This year we have donated almost 1,000 bednets to areas in need. We are shipping out more of the coating and granules to target a Chiefdom, that has never received any medical or educational support from an NGO or charity.

Moomba Chiefdom is located the North-Western part of the Kazungula District. Some 300 km from Livingstone the landscape is a gently undulating series of fossil sand dunes with numerous lagoons, pans and seasonal swamps in hollows between the dunes. Perfect breeding grounds for mosquito.

Last years malaria outbreak turned into an epidemic in some parts of Zambia. Moomba recorded the highest number of cases in the Kazungula District. Our aim is to assist the Ministry of Health by providing the new intervention and mosquito nets.

Links:

Malaria Statistics

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