Tomorrow is World Malaria Day. This year, the theme of the commemoration is ‘Gender, Equity and Human Rights.’ YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that the theme further highlights the disproportionate effect that the malaria endemic has on women and girls as caregivers, patients and healthcare workers.
Annually, every 25th day of April is tagged the World Malaria Day, a day set apart for the world to call attention to the worldwide fight against malaria and look back on developments from the past year.
Malaria is a disease that largely impacts pregnant women and children and according to statistics, a staggering 11.6 million pregnant women were infected with malaria in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 and each year, malaria contributes to 10,000 maternal deaths and 200,000 newborn deaths worldwide.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) World Malaria report, in 2022, at least 12.7 million pregnancies in the WHO Africa region were exposed to malaria infection. Even in cases where they are not the ones infected by the parasite, women are often burdened by the duty of staying home to care for family members who suffer from malaria, causing them to miss out on work and school, which widens the educational and financial effect gap between genders.
And for these reasons, it is evident that the eradication of malaria will not only have a positive effect on the healthcare landscape across Africa but will also impact the daily lives, education and economic prospects of many African women and girls.
This is why the theme for this year; ‘Gender, Equity and Human Rights’ holds great significance for the malaria community as it highlights the disproportionate effect that the malaria endemic has on women and girls as caregivers, healthcare workers and as patients burdened by the disease.
The need to focus on women in the fight to eradicate malaria cannot be overemphasised; women and girls are on the frontlines of the fight against malaria, they make up 70 percent of the community health workforce that has been instrumental in driving down malaria cases and deaths in remote and rural communities. And as the greatest contributors to the informal care economy, women are often the first and last lines of defence against malaria in their family and community.
Activist claim that freeing women and adolescent girls from the burden of malaria as well as caring for family members when they are down with malaria, increases their likelihood of completing school, entering and remaining in the workforce, and participating in public decision-making.
All over the world, women and adolescent girls are making an enormous impact in the fight against this deadly, yet preventable disease.
Many women across the African continent have been identified as malaria heroes and many had made impacts in the fight against malaria in Nigeria.
One of identified female malaria heroines in Nigeria is Victoria Momoh, a registered nurse and midwife in Maiduguri, Borno State who is constantly on the frontlines of the fight against malaria. Victoria is a sexual and reproductive health supervisor in Maiduguri and she cares for many patients who suffer from malaria.
“In pregnancy, malaria becomes a serious problem. You are now thinking of two individuals, not just the one: the mother and the child. And if malaria is not treated you can have complications. One in three pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa get malaria during pregnancy. The life-threatening illnesses can lead to severe complications such as cerebral malaria, miscarriage, still birth, or anemia.
“If malaria was not there, these women would be a lot stronger, they would be able to do their day to day activities. The children would be stronger, go to school. Their production as a woman would be higher,” Victoria said.
It is said that with the right solutions; free, comprehensive healthcare treatment for pregnant women and children under five and intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp), women and girls can live healthy lives and reach their full potential.
In 2022 Nothing But Nets Leadership Summit with the theme, ‘United to Beat Malaria’ with focus on learning how you can get involved in the fight for a malaria-free world, a consensus was reached that the global community must scale up their response to malaria.
This year, Target Malaria will be engaging in a week-long campaign and a series of events to spread awareness about the malaria endemic, the contextual relevance of gender equity and human rights, and how our approach to reducing transmission through gene drive technology could be a key component in the fight against malaria.
Target Malaria has developed a wax pattern in the traditional African style that nods to our scientific approach to malaria eradication and to the theme of gender. And as a follow-up to the Yaoundé Declaration, it encourages the global community to reaffirm their resilience in this fight and come together to take the next steps towards achieving an end to malaria in this lifetime.
It is believed that progress towards gender equality rests on the fight to end malaria for good.
In Nigeria where communities have historically relied on information about mosquitoes, malaria parasites, and malaria transmission from government or aid groups, women lead the way in community-based mosquito collection by taking charge of understanding and teaching others about the complex mosquito populations in their communities, how to control them, and ways to protect themselves.
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