Stomping Out Malaria: World Malaria Day in Mantasoa

April 25^th is World Malaria Day, and because Peace Corps volunteers of all sectors are heavily involved in malaria prevention efforts across Africa and Asia, our training group participated in a special event today in Mantasoa.

Last Saturday we gathered there to paint a mural on the wall of the fokontany building (kind of like a town office), which illustrated the dangers of not sleeping under a bed net. Although malaria is not as prevalent here in the chillier highlands than it is in the coastal area, there were 2 cases reported in the area last week. Many people have a false idea that they can’t get tazo moka (the Malagasy word for malaria, which translates to “mosquito fever”), so a lot of education is needed. Today’s event presented the mural to the residents and lehibes (town authorities such as a the mayor, chief of the fokontany, head of the gendarmes, etc), as well as the press. The director of the malaria initiative at USAID gave a speech about the goals for eradicating malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and in Madagascar specifically, and there was also a demonstration on how to make natural mosquito repellant using the neem plant, which grows wild all over Madagascar.

The completed mural!

Peace Corps’s malaria prevention efforts work in tandem with PMI (President’s Malaria Initiative), which is a program started by President Obama. All volunteers are supposed to incoporate malaria prevention activities into their work, and for me, it will be especially important because my site, Vangaindrano, is in an area with high malaria rates. I’m really excited to incorporate tazo moka education and neem oil training into my projects at site.