Fred and Mary Okunyo’s household of 13 is typical of rural Ugandan families. Five of their nine children still live with them, as do six of their grandchildren, all aged between two and four.
“We used to have just two mosquito nets,” explained Okunyo Fred. “One for my wife and me and another for the youngest child. Malaria was a very big problem for us; we would go to the hospital many times in a month for treatment. Sometimes the children would stay there for days on a drip.”
The nearest health centre is Apac Hospital, which is about eight kilometres away. “If my bicycle is not broken down, I use that; otherwise I walk, carrying the child. I don’t know how long it takes me to walk – many hours.”
Although treatment at the government hospital is free, regular drug stockouts mean that caregivers often have to buy the drugs at the pharmacy themselves. “One time we had four children on drips at the same time,” Fred recalled. “The total cost was 180,000 shillings (about $65 USD). That is too much money for me – I had to sell a goat in order to pay. When there is nothing in your hand, you have to borrow. And then you have to struggle to pay it back. It hinders the family’s wellbeing because you don’t have anything left to buy simple things like soap and salt and school books.”
Frequent malaria treatment costs more than just money; it also takes away valuable time from patients and caregivers. “The garden and crops suffer,” explained Fred, adding that it also makes you vulnerable to theft. “If you are away from home, thieves can come and steal your livestock or crops. Just the other day, while our neighbour was in hospital, someone broke in and stole her mattress!”
Mary said that it can take several weeks for the children to recover from malaria. “They are very weak for a long time, too weak to walk the 4 kilometres to school, so their education suffers a lot.” Their three-year-old grandson, Akora Sam, has been hit the hardest by malaria. “He had malaria almost all the time,” explained Fred. “So much that it disturbed his mind and he didn’t know what he was doing. I think this was because the malaria hit him again and again. As a parent or a grandparent, when you see the children like this, you just feel pain in your heart. Always thinking ‘what can I do, how can I find the money’ has made me feel a lot of stress.”
Looking at little Akora, happily playing with his siblings and aunties, it is hard to imagine this grim scenario painted by Fred and Mary. In May 2014, as part of a nationwide, universal distribution, Fred and his family received four long lasting insecticidal nets. “Everyone in the household is sleeping under a net now.” Fred explained.
Under the lead of the government of Uganda, the Ministry of Health and the development partners the Global Fund, the US government, through the president’s Malaria Initiative and USaid, the UK Government, through Dfid, and Johns Hopkins University, Malaria Consortium has supported the distribution of LLINs across the country. This has resulted in 95% coverage.
“There is a great, great change. Since [we received] the nets, not one child has been to the hospital for malaria treatment. You can see them now, happy and playing. Their faces look good. Before, you would not find them playing like this, you would mostly find them in bed, sleeping.
“Even us old ones, we look good too. We are now stronger and can do our farming to better support everyone.”
Content on this page is paid for and provided by the Malaria Consortium sponsor of the Guardian Global Development Professional Network.
