A Sad World Malaria Day

World Malaria Day draws attention to a disease that kills a million people, mostly children, every year around the globe. While great strides have been made in some places, mainly through the distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets and other preventive measures, children in the Democratic Republic of Congo remain highly vulnerable.

According to the World Health Organization, less than 1% of DRC children under five years of age sleep under protective nets. This results in most of them suffering six to ten malaria-related fever incidents per year. The disease also accounts for 45% of childhood mortality, which overall runs to 20%. In short, malaria kills nearly one in ten children in the Congo every year.

As Valerie Grey learns in Heart of Diamonds, continuous armed conflict in the country is responsible for many of these deaths. Medical supplies can’t be distributed when roads, railroads, and airstrips have been destroyed. Treatment can’t be delivered by medical personnel who have been chased from their clinics and hospitals. People driven from their homes, plagued by malnutrition, inadequate shelter, and lack of sanitary facilities are weak and less capable of warding off disease. War creates a breeding ground for death by malaria just as surely as swamps full of stagnant water breed anopheles mosquitoes.

Although the intensity of conflict has decreased since the truce of 2003 and democratic elections of 2006, millions of displaced persons still struggle to survive and hot spots remain in the eastern and western provinces. Collapsed infrastructure has severely weakened the health system in the DRC, and the strengthening process is a slow one.

The DRC, unfortunately, has little to celebrate this World Malaria Day.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds

Tags: romantic thriller, Congo, blood diamonds

Gotta Give Bush Credit

I never thought I would utter words of praise for George W. Bush, but I have to give him credit for accomplishing something positive. His support for initiatives to battle HIV/AIDS and malaria in Africa have actually made a difference in the lives of millions of people.

While in Uganda researching Heart of Diamonds, I met a British doctor who ran a small clinic near Bwindi. His facilities were primitive by our standards (a hand-cranked centrifuge!) and he counted the local traditional healer as an ally, but he stated unequivocally that the Bush initiatives were both well-intentioned and well-executed.

Distribution of antiviral drugs and equipping and building new clinics to treat AIDS patients is not only fighting the disease, but laying the groundwork for longer-term positive changes in many societies as well. As fewer children die from AIDS, for example, African families can be induced to have smaller families, which in turn makes it possible to invest more in the education and nutrition of each individual child.

The fight against malaria, though, may actually be more important. Malaria takes a million lives a year in Africa—and debilitates millions more. The simple distribution of insecticide-laden sleeping nets, if continued, can actually eradicate the disease completely! The parasite that causes the infection reproduces in human red blood cells—and gets there only by a bite from a female Anopheles mosquito. Stop the bites, and the parasite can’t reproduce. Stop enough bites, and it may die out.

Nets cost a few dollars, which is still beyond the means of many Africans. That’s where Bush’s support has made a difference. Millions of nets have been distributed at reduced prices (manufactured in Africa, too, which creates jobs), and millions more are slated to be handed out. According to some experts, malaria could be eradicated as early as 2012.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds

Tags: romantic thriller, Congo, blood diamonds