Thursday, May 11, 2006
ZANZIBAR — Zanzibar, which lies just a few dozen miles off the coast of Tanzania, has a rich and storied which goes back nearly a thousand years. Malaria, the silent killer which the President of Zanzibar Sultan Mugheiry described today as “Africa’s number one killer, bigger than AIDS,” has been here even longer, so long in fact that some in the western world doubt that the scourge which kills three million Africans a year can ever be eradicated.
Don’t tell that to the villagers of Jambiani.
“Welcome to Jambiani! Welcome to Jambiani! Malaria, Bye Bye! Malaria, Bye Bye!” two dozen school girls wearing traditional Islamic headscarves sang as the NABJ delegation walked into their school. A small village of just 5,000, Jambiani is ground zero in Tanzania’s fight against malaria. Less than ten years ago the disease was the number one cause of illness in the village with more than 3,000 cases reported and more than half of villagers contracting malaria more than once a year. In 2005, there were only 47 cases reported and Jambiani hasn’t had a verified case since October of last year.
The numbers are startling but far from miraculous. Zanzibar’s small population of one million made it a perfect crucible for a program of targeted eradication using a combination of the latest advanced combination drug therapy and the use of insecticide treated bed nets. A massive education campaign which sought to not only teach villagers about how to keep their surrounding environment from being the mosquito breeding ground it had become, but to include them in the decision making process on how to best tackle a problem which was threatening the lives of villagers of all ages.
NABJ president Bryan Monroe presents Long Lasting Olyset bed nets treated with insecticide to orphans at the Jambiani village on behalf of the organization.
In 2002 when the first bed nets were distributed for free, there were 2,685 cases. The next year saw that number drop to 1,412 and 2004 saw just 677 cases of malaria among villagers. On the mainland of Tanzania there has been great debate among government health officials, NGOs and donors about the efficacy of giving away bed nets for free. The common wisdom is that people will not value something that they do not have to pay for. While pregnant women and mothers with children under five have been receiving vouchers which pay for up to 80% of the cost of a bed net, 15% of those mothers do not redeem the vouchers because they cannot come up with the roughly 50 cents they must pay in order to buy a net, leaving tens of thousands of children and mothers unprotected. In reality the government cannot afford to give away bed nets to everyone who needs them, thus the voucher system allows them to reach more families than they otherwise would be able to.
A classroom filled with young Zanzibar girls learns about the affects of malaria in the Jambiani village.
Looking into the eyes of a classroom full of young boys and girls in Zanzibar, all healthy and malaria free seemed to be a powerful argument for the distribution of free nets. The children, all knew what malaria was, what caused it and what the symptoms of the disease are thanks to an education campaign which targets schoolchildren as well as their parents.
For the last seven month Jambiani has been malaria free, providing hope for those who envision of a world where no more of Africa’s young dreamers.
— Damaso Reyes, NY Amsterdam News
Damaso Reyes/NY Amsterdam News
A classroom of girls at the Jamiani village sing about the eradication of malaria in Zanzibar.
