Scouts against Malaria
This issue is dedicated to World Malaria Day and what Scouting has done to reduce the incidence of malaria in African countries. The success of these initial campaigns needs to be followed up so more lives can be saved.
In this newsletter, we review the World Malaria Report published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on December 4 and the most recent SAM campaigns in Malawi, Uganda and Ghana.
In this issue we discuss the impact of Cyclone Idai which hit the coast of Southern Africa on March 14, the recent Scout against Malaria campaigns in Malawi, Uganda and Ghana and the advent of World Malaria Day on April 25.
Great to see more Scouts Against Malaria awareness training continuing in Ghana using the additional resources sent out recently by Kent Scouts.
Saturday 26 January, 2019 - Hawley Scout Hall, Hawley Road, Hawley, Hampshire from 10.30 to 15.00
Scouts for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was launched at the UN Headquarters last weekend, and so this forms the appropriate theme for our next regional workshop. We will undertake a set of activities related to this theme in addition to finding out what each County is doing in terms of international activities and promoting activities within the global programme zone.
The Scouts against Malaria initiative is now active in 5 African countries that is Gambia, Malawi, Uganda, Ghana and Burkina Faso with Scouts in these countries purchasing long life insecticide impregnated nets (LLIN) from funds raised by UK Scouts distributing these LLIN to vulnerable families, helping with erecting the nets and advising where help can be obtained if bitten.
However we are handicapped in several ways –
- Cost of buying such nets in small quantities in these countries
- Reluctance of net manufacturers like Vestergaard to make available such nets as free issue
- Only UK Scouts are currently involved in learning about the illness and what they can do save lives
To make a larger impact we need to involve more countries and to leverage financial and in kind contributions from organisations like the World Scout Foundation and UN Agencies.
Hertfordshire Scouts has already raised considerable funds to support a SAM Project in Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta). Malaria remains a serious public health problem in the French-speaking country, despite the implementation of preventive and curative measures. It constitutes the first cause for consultation, hospitalization and death in their health facilities. Statistics from the national health information system reveal that children are the most affected with 44.2% of the reasons for consultation; 52.75% of hospitalizations and 30.03% of deaths.
