April 25th marked World Malaria Day. This year the World Health Organisation, with seleced partners, is promoting a grassroots campaign called ‘Zero malaria starts with me.‘
The Butterfly Tree has been providing support to Zambia for malaria prevention since 2007, offering interventions that are proving to reduce the number of cases of malaria and helping to save lives.
With the current COVID-19 global pandemic malaria must not be overlooked. In 2018 there were an estimated 228 million cases of malaria and 405,000 deaths, down from 416,000 in 2017, showing that interventions are working. Sadly, 67% of deaths were children under the age of five.
Thanks to the tremendous support we have received The Butterfly Tree now has now has malaria prevention programmes in Mukuni, Nyawa, Sekute and Moomba Chiefdoms, in the Kazungula District of Southern Province. Universal coverage is provided with the use of mosquito nets, a safe insecticidal coating, which is painted inside dwellings, and larvicide. The latter when placed in ponds and streams prevents larva from developing into mosquitos.
Our ‘mosquito nets for schools' programme is helping to provide protection for children above five years, as this age group rarely get selected bu the Ministry of Heaslth as priority is given to pregnant women and under-fives. Every pupils and teacher is given a mosquito net and takes ownership, and monitoring takes place in order to track new cases of malaria.To date we have donated nets to thousands of children at River View, Sikaunzwe, Kauwe, Kamwi, Chuunga and Mambova Schools, this has considerabley reduced the number of malaria cases. Three more schools have recently been covered - Bunsanga, Chilaba and Malimba
We are delighted to have been selected for the second year running by a national women's group in the UK as one of their two charities of the year for 2020-21.
Thank you to everyone who has supported this vital programme.
ACCORDING TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION THERE WERE:
The rainy season in Zambia is underway, which provides much needed respite from the severe drought that has been affecting the Western, Southern and parts of the Eastern Provinces. Rivers and streams are filling up, providing a source of water for communities and animals. Unfortunately, this is also the start of the malaria season.
During the past few months The Butterfly Tree has continued to increase the support in schools so that children are protected from malaria. Our 'mosquito nets for schools' has expanded and the following schools have each received a full allocation. Mambova Junior Secondary and Chuunga and Kamwi Primary Schools. Each pupil and teacher take ownership of the net to prevent contracting malaria. Records are kept at the school and we monitor the programme to see if there has been any absenteeism from school as a result of malaria.
The previous three schools, River View, Sikaunzwe and Kawewa, that have recieived a donation have not reported any cases of malaria since receiving our support.
Last month, we provided advanced protection for an area called Singwamba in Nyawa Chiefdom. The region has one of the highest prevelances of malaria in the Kazungula District. A team of local people, supervised by The Butterfly Tree's volunteer Environmental Officer, applied safe insecticidal coating to 364 dwellings. This should provide protection for up to two years.
In addition every pond, stream and areas of stagnant water were treated with a safe larvicide, which prohibits the larva from developing into mosquitos. Both products are harmless to humans and dwellings.
The World Health Organisation states that 70% of the world's malaria cases are concentrated in just 11 countries, Zambia is not included in this list. This proves that Zambia is making progess in helping to eliminate malaria. We will continue to raise funds and awareness, and would like to thank everyone who has supported this project.
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Despite the severe drought in the Southern and Western Provinces of Zambia, mosquitos continue to plague the communities. September and October, the months prior to the rainy season, is the time to provide internventions to help prevent people from contracting malaria.
Thanks to recent donations we have been able to include more schools in our 'mosquito nets for schools' programme. Mambova School, situated next to the mighty Zambezi River, received the latest donation at the start of the month.
Our next target is the Ngwezi Zone in Musokotwane Cheifdom. The area has a high prevalence of malaria, is very remote and becomes inaccessible during the rainy season. The inside of dwellings will be painted with our safe insectidal coating, which has proved to be highly successful n other areas, and larvicide will be placed where there is water.
In addition, Ngwezi School and small community schools in the area will receive mosquito nets. The health centres do not provide nets to children over five, as children under five and pregnant women are priority.
Accordng to the World Health Organisation malaria is on the increase globally. Consequently, it is imparative to provide universal coverage for the areas that are known to have malaria. Our aim as always is to provide for protection in rural areas that receive no other support, most especially for children.
In July 2017 The Butterfly Tree visited Moomba Chiefdom as 46% of the population had malaria. Moomba is a remote area in the Kazungula District of Southern Province of Zambia, somme 300km from our base. No other charity had been there. Shortly after we initiated a malaria prevention programme to reduce the number of cases. Over the next 12 months every dwelling was painted with a safe insecticidal coating, larvicide was placed in stagnant ponds and streams to prevent the larva developing into mosquitos. In addition every household was provided with mosquito nets.
Results:
1,531 cases in 2017
525 cases in 2018
56 cases to date in 2019
In April last year we targeted two villages and the surrounding areas in Nyawa Chiefdom, using the same methdos as above. The latest reports shows that ZERO cases of malaria were recorded from April 2018 to the end of June 2019.
Three more schools have been given mosquito nets to protect school children from contracting malaria. River View School has reported no absenteeism since the distribtion of mosquito nets in October 2017. Sikauzwe, Kawewa and Mambova Schools have received a donation. A total of 2,800 school children being protected under our 'nets for schools' pilot scheme.
We have now raised sufficient funds to provide mosquito nets for Kamwi, Chuunga and Ngwezi Schools. These will be given out to pupils at the start of the next term in September.
Globally malaria is on the increase, with half the world's population at risk. Latest World Health Organisation state that an estimated 219 million people have malaria and there were 435,000 deaths. Chidren under five are at most risk, however oftern school children miss out when it comes to offering prtoection.
Our aim is to reach out to more schools in remote areas where malaria is prevelant.
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Today marks World Malaria Day. The World Health Organisation states ‘After more than a decade of steady advances in fighting malaria, progress has levelled off. According to WHO’s latest World malaria report, no significant gains were made in reducing malaria cases in the period 2015 to 2017′.
WHO STATISTICS
Despite this disturbing news, I am pleased to say that The Butterfly Tree, though a relatively small grassroot charity, is making significant progress in malaria prevention. We have proof, from the environmental officers and the Zambian Ministry of Health, that our methods are working and that the number of new cases of malaria have been significantly reduced in the areas of application.
Since 2015 we have been using two safe innovative products. One of them is an insecticidal coating, used to paint the inside walls of dwellings, the other is a larvicide, which is placed in breeding grounds to prevent larva developing into mosquitos. We have applied the products in Mukuni, Moomba and Nyawa Chiefdoms, where malaria is prevalent, and most recently started a programme in Musokotwane.
Moomba Chiefdom is the most isolated community in the Kazungula District. In 2016 46% of the people had malaria. We first visited Moomba Health Centre, a distance of 300km from our base, in July 2017. During the past fourteen months we have painted every dwelling in the entire Chiefdom. Last year the number of new cases of malaria had been reduced by two-thirds, by the end of this year we should see further reductions.
In Nyawa Chiefdom, the area we selected had the highest prevalence of malaria. We painted the houses and placed larvicide in ponds and streams. Since January 2018 no new cases of malaria have been reported. We have recently started a programme in Musokotwane Chiefdom.
To prevent contracting malaria universal coverage is crucial. In addition to insecticidal coating and larvicide, mosquito nets must be provided. Sadly, in every region there is a shortfall of nets, with priority being given to pregnant women and children under the age of five. While working with the environmental officers we found that older children are contracting malaria due to not having protection.
As a result we introduced the concept of giving mosquito nets to schools, ensuring that every pupil received their own mosquito net. In November 2017 we did a pilot scheme at River View School, donating 1,400 nets to pupils, and also included the teachers. For the past eighteen months no absenteeism has been caused by malaria. Three further schools – Sikaunswe, Kawewa and Mambova have each received a donation of mosquito nets. After the Easter break Kamwi and Chuunga schools will be included in this programme.
We are extremely grateful to everyone who has supported our vital work in helping the fight against malaria.
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