Malaria: The ACT Alternative

By Azore Opio, Kini Nsom & Chris Mbunwe

The fight against malaria, that hoodoo whose multi-faceted adverse effects cut across the globe and constitute a bane of progress to humanity, is not up for negotiation.

It is in this perspective that the theme of the first World Malaria Day, celebrated today April 25, speaks volumes and represents a tell-tale phrase as to how much global effort has been made to dare the disease.

The theme: "Malaria: a Disease Without Borders" is virtually a snapshot of the disease as the greatest killer, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.Malaria is a major public health concern in many countries and has been awakening stakeholders out of the fallacious belief that only HIV/AIDS is a threat to their citizens.

That is why African governments issued the Abuja Declaration in 2005, committing themselves to combating the killer disease. The disease is not only a health problem, but also a socio- economic jinx.

According to the National Malaria Control Programme, NMCP, statistics, malaria is the greatest cause of death in Cameroon affecting mostly pregnant women and children below five years.

It accounts for 45 percent consultation and 54 percent of hospitalization around the country; it saps 40 to 45 percent of household revenue and accounts for absences in schools and work places.

But unlike HIV/AIDS, malaria can both be prevented and cured. Negligence, ignorance and sheer carelessness are some of the factors that have enabled the disease to almost devastate the society.

Thus, passing on information as to how people can prevent, diagnose or cure malaria is the onus of all and sundry. When stakeholders roll the drums to commemorate this year's Malaria Day; it will also be time for them to ponder over accelerating the onslaught.It is in this perspective that in recent days, NMCP organised workshops in the Southwest and Northwest Provinces to sensitise mass media professionals.

Roll Back Malaria

Held under Roll Back Malaria Initiative and the auspices of Global Fund for the Fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as well as the Cameroon Ministry of Public Health, the workshops involved and sensitised the media on how to disseminate the information on the new malaria treatment, ACT, (Artemenisin Combination Therapy - artesunate-amordiaquin and lumefantrine-artemeter).

In Buea, Southwest Province, Prof. Daniel Noni Lantum, took the press corps from statistics of malaria impact on the society, through the bare basics of malarial infection to the strategy of building the capacity of health workers in malaria management and prevention through follow-up.

This notwithstanding, the Head of Unit Of Southwest Provincial Malaria Control, George Bisong, said insecticide-treated mosquito nets are a mainstay in the fight against malaria; it keeps mosquitoes out of biting distance and also kills them; thus guaranteeing the safety of the person inside the net.

In the Northwest, the Provincial Coordinator of Malaria Control Programme, Dr. Odile Charlotte Tchekoutouo, urged journalists to help educate the masses on the importance of using ACT drugs.

Meanwhile, in Yaounde recently, while highlighting the theme of the World Malaria Day, the Executive Director of the Cameroon Coalition Against Malaria, CCAM, Prof. Rose Gana Fomban Leke, avoided quarrelling with semantics.

"Ask yourself in any little corner you happen to be what you are doing to contribute to the fight against malaria. Malaria affects all of us," she said. Although Prof. Leke was addressing participants at the CCAM second General Assembly, the message was for the entire Cameroonian Society.

It is a fervent appeal for everyone to contribute his or her own quota in the fight against malaria. Thus, the onslaught is not only for government.Prof. Lantum said "the battle against malaria is indefinite." The medical experts emphasised the need to proper diagnosis for malaria rather than consulting quacks and roadside medicine stores, in order to receive the right treatment.

Sleep Under Bed Nets

If people ignore the appeal for them to sleep under insecticide-treated mosquito nets, if they shun the authority's appeal to them to keep their surroundings clean, malaria will continue to grow from strength to strength. Patients will not help the fight if they decide to embark on self-medication, after suspecting malaria, instead of doing proper diagnosis in order to take the right drugs.

Any patient who feels feverish and goes directly to buy drugs without consulting a doctor is causing more harm to him/herself.ACT drugs are now available in hospitals, health units and pro-pharmacies at affordable prices.