Africa

 Once somebody asked me why we can’t eradicate malaria by treating every person in malaria-endemic countries with an effective ant-malarial drug at the same time. As long as they all stay on the drug for as long as it takes for the current generation of infected mosquitoes to die (1-2 weeks on average, maybe a month maximum), then the human reservoir will be eliminated, no new mosquitoes will become infected, and that would be the end of malaria. It was an interesting idea, but who, exactly, was going to take on the task of putting every African on the same drug at the same time and making sure they stick with it long enough?

There has recently been some big news regarding treatment of malaria. First the good news.

Generally, visiting health centers where I work is one of the parts of my job that I most enjoy. But there is one part of the experience I really can’t take: watching kids take their medication. While this may seem like the easiest part of the process, getting a small child to swallow a large, bitter, scary pill can be quite an ordeal. I often remember one particular little girl in Chad screaming (or rather gargling) in terror as her mouth filled with blood (she bit her tongue) while the nurse held her nose and poured the medication into her mouth. Not a pretty sight. And besides being such a traumatic experience for the child, she ended up spitting out most of her anti-malarial treatment.