Preventing Childhood Malaria Deaths in Mashegu

Ungwan-Zuru is a malaria high-risk rural community in rural Niger state, with poor child and maternal health indices. There is also poor access to healthcare services including medicines as many families and households lack the financial resources to access healthcare which is mostly out-of-pocket expenditure. Ungwuan Zuru also have high malaria disease burden with malaria accounting for over 60% of clinic attendance at the Primary Health Care Centre that serves the community, based on data from the local health authorities.

For this reporting period, Physicians for Social Justice, PSJ’s, mobile team conducted a Malaria Mobile Clinic Outreach targeting vulnerable residents of Ungwan Zuru, especially women and children. As part of the package of health services provided, 107 pregnant women and 144 under-5 children who presented with fever and clinically suspected of having malaria received malaria diagnostic screening using Rapid Diagnostic Kits (RDT) provided through donations made to PSJ via globalgiving foundation. Out of those that were tested, 88 pregnant women and 94 children under-5 tested positive and were provided with anti-malaria treatment at no cost to them, because you, our donors already donated to PSJ through the GlobalGiving Foundation which enabled payments for the cost of diagnostic testing and the treatment including for the full doses of anti-malaria medications. For pregnant women who did not test positive, all who were due were given anti-malaria prophylaxis according to the national malaria-in-pregnancy prophylaxis protocol.

In addition, 58 non-pregnant women and 19 males mainly older children and the elderly who tested positive for malaria were also provided full doses of malaria treatment based on national treatment guidelines. Residents of Ungwuan zuru have profoundly expressed their gratitude to PSJ’s donors for making it possible for them to access quality primary healthcare especially malaria diagnosis, treatment and prophylaxis, without facing additional financial risk and burden. A 32-year-old man, Musa, who brought his feverish 4-year-old girl expressed his deep gratitude for the treatment given to his daughter without him paying a dime. ‘I could not have afforded the cost of the medicines”, said Musa. Musa is part of many residents in these communities who lack any form of financial risk protection such as health insurance. The cost of healthcare is usually out-of-pocket and many community members simply cannot afford it. Under these circumstances, donations from donors like you are life-saving.

Tungan Habu is a rural community that suffers chronic social neglect ranging from inadequate healthcare services to poor water and sanitation facilities. The advent of Covid-19 in year 2020, has made the living condition of the people worse as local authorities grapple with the socioeconomic hardship that the pandemic brought with it.  Furthermore, the community also hosts hundreds of Internally Displace Persons (IDPs) who fled their own communities and villages due to attacks by armed bandits; Frequent abductions and violent attacks on roads leading to the villages and communities like Tunga Habu have made it nearly impossible for government/partners supply trucks from making rounds to supply essential medicines and other health commodities to health facilities especially in these rural communities.

 According to reports from the local primary health care authority, Tungan Habu ranks as high risk due to her high malaria burden especially among infants, young children and pregnant women.

This mobile clinic outreach which happened in early August 2021 at Tungan Habu was prompted by community elders in the community asking Physicians for Social Justice (PSJ) to assist their community and alleviate their suffering by providing medical relief and aid to their vulnerable populations of women, children and elderly and young.

With support donors through GlobalGiving Foundation, PSJ partnered with the community stakeholders to conduct an integrated Mobile Clinic Outreach where their vulnerable populations including pregnant women and children under 5 (U5) were provided with free life-saving medical services including; Free malaria testing and treatment and provision of multivitamins for pregnant/lactating mothers, as well as other primary health care services such as free diagnosis and treatment of common ailments and infectious diseases such as typhoid, ulcers, respiratory tract infections, etc.

For the malaria component of the integrated outreach, a total of 289 persons were tested including 113 children-under-five, 92 pregnant women, 66 non-pregnant women and 18 men were tested for malaria. 179 persons including 79 children-under five, 54 pregnant women, 39 non-pregnant women and 7 men tested positive for malaria and were all treated free of charge, thanks to the generous donations from you our donors.

The community beneficiaries were full of gratitude to our GlobalGiving donors for their generous donations and which made the outreach possible.

Since our last report, our team has conducted two outreaches in rural Kaboji as part of our renewed effort and strategic goal to achieve a malaria parasite prevalence of less than 10% and reduce mortality attributable to malaria to less than 50 deaths per 1000 live births by 2025.

This particular project update once again showcases the impact of donor support towards the implementation of Preventing Childhood Malaria Deaths in rural Mashegu, which is a high burden malaria zone in rural Niger State. On behalf of these communities we serve, Physicians for Social Justice, PSJ, particularly grateful to our donors for making these two outreaches possible. All the anti-malarial medicines and insecticide treated nets used during the two outreaches were procured with donations we received entirely from our donors on GlobalGiving.

For the two outreaches, 68 pregnant women received Intermittent Preventive Treatment of malaria (IPT) as recommended by World Health Organization. For most of these women, this was the first time they had the opportunity to receive IPT, which is a therapeutic course of antimalarial medicine given to pregnant women, regardless of whether the recipient is infected with malaria.

For 32year old Halima, an expectant mother of 3, who was already in her second trimester of her fourth pregnancy, she was among the beneficiaries who received her Intermittent Preventive Treatment of malaria (IPT), the outreach could not have come at a better time than when the team visited her village. She narrated to the team how she almost lost her third baby who was born pre-term, due to severe episode on malaria-in-pregnancy she experienced then. She was full of praise to our outreach team for visiting her village to provide IPT and insecticidal nets as well. “Two years ago, I experienced severe fever with chills, my husband took me to the General Hospital in the city (a journey of over 2 hours). The doctor said I had malaria-in-pregnancy. I went into labour before my due date and eventually delivered my baby just before 8 months of pregnancy. I didn’t know my baby would survive. Your visit today to give this malaria medicine is a thing of joy for me and all pregnant mothers in this village. Thank you for looking after the poor and vulnerable”, said Halima, who was full of praise for our team and our donors.

Also using malaria rapid test kit, 135 children under-five children were diagnosed malaria positive and also received full does of anti-malaria treatment.

 Once again, on behalf of these communities, PSJ is most profoundly grateful to all our donors for your generosity, and for providing the resources to make this outreaches reality. Thank you.

Our dear donor,

Warm greetings from Physicians for Social Justice, PSJ.

We use this quarterly report to highlight the positive impact your donations are making in the lives of communities we serve. With your support, our team conducted malaria mobile clinic outreach in Adogo community, a remote village located deep into the savanna grassland of rural Mashegu on October 10, 2020. It took the mobile health team about 3 hours to travel from our base in Kontagora to the village as we navigated through rough terrain of washed-out unpaved roads and bushpaths.

The mobile clinic outreach to Adogo community brought life-saving clinical services to the doorsteps of rural villagers including diagnosis and treatment malaria-in-pregnancy and for children under-five, administration of routine drugs (multivitamins) for pregnant women, post-natal care and health education, treatment of other infectious diseases including, typhoid, diarrhoea etc, as well as COVID-19 sensitization and risk communication.

Results of the outreach showed 71 of 190 pregnant women wh0 presented at the mobile clinic were diagnosed malaria positive using malaria rapid test kit test and treated for malaria while 119 received essential routine multivitamins. 223 children under-five including 49 neonates were diagnosed and treated for malaria, while 18 were treated for diarrhea. Over 400 caregivers mostly women also received health education on malaria control measures they can undertake to rid the surroundings of their households of malaria vector (mosquitoes) breeding sites. Caegivers in the community expressed joy at the opportunity of the visit. “Your visit to our community today with your team of doctors and nurses has brought joy and happiness to my household. My 4-year-old son who has been running temperature (fever) since the past 2 days was treated at no cost by the doctor.  They tested him and gave us two different medicines. The doctor assured me that the medicine will make him well again”, said Bilkisu, a caregiver and resident of Adogo village, who expressed immense gratitude for the outreach.

These malaria outreach activities are being implemented against the background of the high malaria transmission currently going on especially in rural communities as the rainy season reaches its peak and people in these rural communities do not have access to effective malaria prevention measures such as long-lasting insecticide treated nets. Based on Niger State Malaria Survey of 2019, rural Mashegu which is just one of the 25 LGAs of Niger State, contributes 12% of the total malaria mortality burden in the entire state.

This mobile clinic outreach stood out among others we conducted of recent because it also coincided with the handing-over ceremony to the community, of the primary health care facility, newly refurbished by PSJ. For over six years, the clinic which was the only health facility in the community was left in a dilapidated condition; a large portion of the facility’s roof had been torn apart by rainstorm, and there were leakages all over the rest of the facility’s building leading to destruction of furniture and medical equipment. The sanitary condition of the facility deteriorated and eventually lead to the abandonment of the facility by both health personnel and community members, until Physicians for Social Justice (PSJ) took the initiative to refurbish the PHC facility and also donated basic medical equipment to the PHC facility with support of our donors.

On behalf of the Adogo community and all other communities we serve, Physicians for Social Justice is most profoundly grateful to all our donors especially those who donated to us via the globalgiving platform for making our work impactful in the lives of the communities we serve. Your donations have enabled us reach communities in the remotest of locations to provide life-saving medical services especially malaria treatment, care and prevention services. Thank you for all your generosity.

In this first quarter of 2020, PSJ’s Malaria Prevention Project continued outreach activities in rural Mashegu. In this report, we especially highlight outreach activities implemented in Sahon-rami village, which happens to be the birthplace of the project in 2008.

25year old Sefiya, mother of three, who resides in Sahon-rami, is one of the project beneficiaries during one of the recent outreaches which targeted at least 300 vulnerable households in the community. Being an expectant mother, she received twoLong-Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLIN) for herself and her two-year old daughter. For her, the LLINs are invaluable to her health, that of her unborn baby and that of her little daughter. The last LLIN she received from the team was about four years ago and it is torn on multiple points and could no longer protect her and her child from mosquito bites, that could result in malaria. Her daughter has had at least two episodes of malaria attacks within the past 3 months due to repeated exposure to mosquito bites. She dreaded the onset of this year’s rainy season when malaria transmission usually peaks. Her worries and anxiety were dramatically answered when PSJ’s malaria team showed up in her village, as she became the owner of two brand new LLINs. “Since we could not afford the cost to replace our old ITNs, I have been so bothered about how I and my children especially my little daughter would cope with mosquitoes and the resultant malaria attacks during this upcoming rainy season, coupled with my pregnancy condition ( knowing that pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to malaria), until succour came through group from PSJ and their supporters”, remarked Sefiya. She was full of gratitude for the two new LLINs delivered to them free of any cost, right in their village.

More than 760 households were reached with malaria prevention activities including health education and malaria risk communication in rural Mashegu in the first quarter of 2020. There was also LLIN demonstration sessions on how to air and care for LLINs, malaria Rapid Diagnostic Testing & treatment services, as well as health talk to community members on the importance of sleeping inside ITNs. The household-based sensitization provided yet another opportunity to reinforce malaria prevention messages on elimination of mosquito breeding sites around dwelling houses as we prepare to welcome the next rainy season when malaria transmission escalates. Caregivers were also educated on recognition of symptomatic manifestation of malaria and on the need for sick infants and children who are the most vulnerable group to receive prompt medical attention.

The team also engaged in dialogue with community stakeholders to sustain community support and get their feedback on how the project can address the increasing demand for malaria services in the target communities. All these successes could not have been possible without the support of all our donors like you who made donations that enable us to reach these remote communities and provide these essential life-saving commodities free-of. On behalf of the communities we serve, we express our profound gratitude for your generosity and solidarity