Stomping Out Malaria in Madagascar!

Shaking. Chills. Vomiting. Sweating. Aching.  

It's anything but fun. It's painful. It damages your body. It can even kill you. It's malaria: the world's buzz kill.

Malaria cases and deaths are prevalent in multiple regions of the world. Just in 2015, there were about 214 million malaria cases and 438,000 deaths throughout the globe. However, while malaria can be devastating, it is also completely preventable! One day, it can be totally eradicated. So as part of the global effort to eradicate malaria through education and resources, April is designated as World Malaria Month and April 25th (today!) is World Malaria Day.

In accordance with World Malaria Month, I and two other Peace Corps Volunteers facilitated a malaria training over two days at a women's prison in Madagascar. In our training we discussed malaria symptoms, science, and prevention methods. All the women participated with excitement and especially had fun acting out how malaria is transmitted! On the second day, we hung bed nets for all the women in the dormitory, which is one of the most practical and effective methods for malaria prevention. The women created a great atmosphere with their enthusiasm and energy during the activities. In the end, we had 40 women empowered to stomp out malaria with their new prevention education and resources!

Acting out how malaria is transmitted in our training session!

Hanging mosquito bed nets in the women's dormitory.

Not far from the prision, the other Volunteers and I also did a short and simple malaria training for young children at an orphanage. For this, we played a freeze-tag game with a malaria twist. In the game all the children played "people," another Volunteer played a "doctor," and I played a "mosquito." The children's goal was to make it safely across the yard and under the bed net without being "bit" (tagged) by the mosquito! If bitten, a person would have malaria (be frozen) until the doctor came to heal (unfreeze) them. The game ended when all the people were healthy and safely under the bed net! We played several rounds of our malaria freeze-tag game and had a great time. While most of the children are still too young to understand everything about malaria, after the game they did better understand the importance of bed nets!

The kids make a dash to get past the mosquito (me!!)

All are now under the bed net and safe from mosquitoes! 

One step closer to stomping out malaria in Madagascar and the
world!