MALARIA PROJECT

Another Matibabu project is to reduce the incidence of malaria by distributing insecticide-treated mosquito nets for bedtime use, focusing initially on very young children and pregnant women.

Malaria, which is contracted from a parasite carried by the Anopheles mosquito, is pervasive throughout Ugenya, and 70% of cases are resistant to fansidar, the cheapest and most readily available treatment. (Indeed, malaria remains the number one killer disease worldwide, and most of the fatalities are very young children who have not yet developed partial immunity).

Recent studies (JAMA 291:2571) conducted in an area of the Siaya District adjacent to Ugenya have shown that the use of nets by children under age six significantly reduce their mortality rates. The nets help protect adults too, because the insecticide in the nets reduces the number of Anopheles mosquitoes in households by 77%. There had initially been some concern that preventing malaria in young children would leave them vulnerable to more severe infections from exposure later in life, but that concern was not borne out. The study clearly showed that mosquito nets are beneficial.

The people in Ugenya are more than willing to use mosquito nets, and the Community Support Group, with which Matibabu works, can monitor correct usage of the nets. Unfortunately, although nets are inexpensive, they remain out of most people’s financial reach. As a pilot project, we have purchased 3000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets which we are distributing to pregnant women and children under age 5 in a particularly swampy area of Ugenya.

In addition, our year-round Matibabu Clinic offers paracheck tests (a quick finger-stick test for faliciparum malaria) and free coartem, the drug of choice, supplied by the Kenyan government for those who test positive. We hope that by treating malaria cases properly we will reduce the reservoir of malaria in Ugenya.

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