malaria

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.