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A little early, but just in time
Based on field reporting by Matthew Marek, head of programs in Haiti for the American Red Cross
by Abi Weaver, International Communications
Thursday, April 24, 2008 — World leaders, public health workers and humanitarians are uniting to observe World Malaria Day on April 25 to inspire action and mobilize resources around a common cause.
With insecticide-treated curtains installed by the Haitian Red Cross, mothers and children, who are often disproportionately affected by mosquito bites, can rest comfortably within their homes without worrying about contracting malaria. Photo Credit: Matthew Marek, American Red Cross
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Upon hearing the American Red Cross was offering free insecticide-treated curtains, hundreds of Jacquezyl residents lined up at the distribution center on the first day of a new pilot malaria prevention program in Haiti. Photo Credit: Matthew Marek, American Red Cross
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But Matthew Marek, head of programs in Haiti for the American Red Cross, decided he could not wait.
Setting out
Earlier this year, Marek made a trek to Jacquezyl, on the northern coast of Haiti, with 20 Haitian Red Cross volunteers, a delegation from the Ministry of Health and a generous financial donor, who wanted to see their work. On this particular day, the American Red Cross was launching a malaria prevention program, the first in Haiti, to supply each household in Jacquezyl with insecticide-treated curtains for their doors and windows.
The American Red Cross is working with the Haitian Red Cross to improve people's health, in part by reducing malaria-related deaths. Haiti has the highest child and maternal mortality rates in the Western Hemisphere, and life expectancy is just 52 years. Haiti's vulnerability to natural disasters, particularly hurricanes, further jeopardizes their safety.
Jacquezyl, the focus of their attention that day, is a secluded fishing village just a few hundred meters from the ocean, which transforms into a swampy bog and breeding ground for mosquitoes during the rainy season. This, in addition to a lack of access to quality health care, puts Jacquezyl residents at high-risk for malaria, a disease that kills one million people each year around the world.
Armed with malaria prevention training materials and 1,600 curtains, Marek and his team set out to reach a total of 15,000 people with lifesaving messages. And just in time.
The night before, a representative from the Ministry of Health and a local entomologist went to work at dusk, catching mosquitoes in test tubes to be analyzed for malaria. What they found was 12.4 percent of the mosquitoes were carriers of the disease.
Based on those results and stories he heard from mothers and children in Jacquezyl, Marek knew the pilot program was desperately needed.
"Carmel, one of the mothers we spoke to, told us the mosquitoes bite her and her seven children repeatedly throughout the night, many developing malaria-like symptoms, such as fevers and headaches," he reported from the field.
Providing relief
On the first day, Haitian Red Cross volunteers distributed all of the curtains they brought with them to vulnerable families. Carmel visited one of the distribution sites, a small school in the middle of town, where she learned how to reduce exposure to malaria-carrying mosquitoes through insecticide-treated curtains and other practices.
After the short training session, she received her own set of curtains and exclaimed, "The mosquitoes have been killing us!" She then thanked the Red Cross, with the same enthusiasm, for bringing protection and relief for her children.
Shortly after the families received their curtains, small teams of Red Cross volunteers accompanied them to their homes to demonstrate the most effective way to hang the curtains.
To support the volunteers, Marek visited many homes to see the progress being made. Volunteers had just finished hanging the curtains in Fifi's home, when he arrived.
"Fifi, a mother of five, was instructing the volunteers, like an interior designer, where to hang the curtains, as if their only value was aesthetic," he shared.
According to Marek, she was grateful she would no longer have to burn citrus peels to keep the mosquitoes away; a practice that can damage the respiratory system and poses a fire hazard.
At the end of the visit, Fifi thanked the volunteers and said in disbelief, "They are beautiful. Yes, they are. And they can kill mosquitoes too?"
Through these community-based activities, the American Red Cross aims to strengthen malaria prevention practices at the household level and increase community access to health information and services. In addition to the insecticide-treated curtains, volunteers are distributing more than 12,500 insecticide-treated bed nets and have made more than 6,500 family outreach visits.
To learn more and support the American Red Cross Malaria Prevention Program throughout the world, visit www.redcross.org/malaria.
As part of the world's largest humanitarian network, the American Red Cross alleviates the suffering of victims of war, disaster and other international crises, and works with other Red Cross and Red Crescent societies to improve chronic, life-threatening conditions in developing nations. We reconnect families separated by emergencies and educate the American public about international humanitarian law. This assistance is made possible through the generosity of the American public.
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