United Methodists to launch malaria prevention program
Aug. 8, 2005
By Linda Bloom*
NEW YORK (UMNS) - When the Rev. R. Randy Day talks with United Methodist pastors in Africa, each one personally knows someone who has died from malaria.
About 90 percent of the 300 million to 600 million people affected by this preventable and treatable disease live in sub-Saharan Africa. A fifth of the region's children under age 5 die from malaria.
"It impacts the larger Methodist family across Africa and all other Africans," Day said.
That's why the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries - where Day serves as chief executive - is creating a health ministry to help eradicate the disease.
While malaria remains a global problem, it is the leading cause of death among young children in Africa, killing a child every 30 seconds, according to the World Health Organization.
The United Methodist Community Based Malaria Prevention Program will be launched on a small scale in Sierra Leone in early December. Cherian Thomas, M.D., an executive with the board's health and welfare unit, is in charge of the program, which will be administered through the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
Day believes that being able to significantly reduce the number of malaria deaths is "a matter of spiritual and political will."
Although the program's initial budget is small, "on faith, we're stepping out to say we think United Methodists will respond," he added.
A special fund for the malaria prevention program has been established with the denomination's Advance for Christ and His Church, a "second-mile" voluntary giving program. The Advance Special offers a way for United Methodists to participate in the malaria program as individuals or through local churches, districts and conferences. As a mission project, the program touches upon issues of health care, poverty and the needs of children.
Day hopes the church can coordinate its efforts with aid groups working on the malaria problem, in particular by providing an infrastructure to reach local communities. "One of the great advantages we have is that we are a grass-roots organization," he said.
Although medical diagnosis and treatment of malaria cases is important, "equally important is the community mobilization for prevention," Thomas said. "That's the tough one."
The United Methodist Maternity and Health Center in Kissy, Sierra Leone, will host a workshop in early December to begin training. Participants are expected from Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria.
To be successful, each community must assume responsibility for the prevention project, according to Thomas. Community prevention techniques include the identification and cleanup of mosquito breeding grounds, the use of proper mosquito netting, and the use of medicines for prevention and treatment.
The distribution of insecticide-treated nets for beds to all children in malaria zones, along with the use of effective drug treatment, is listed among the "quick wins" of the United Nations' Millennium Project.
But such tools often do not get to those who need them, according to the All-Party Parliamentary Malaria Group of the British House of Commons.
"Determined action by the international community, sustained over decades, is now needed," the group said in its "Tackle Malaria Today" report. "This would involve scaling up integrated control programs over entire regions and combining the best weapons we have - drugs, insecticide-treated malaria nets and house spraying - in a science-based strike to both prevent and control malaria. In parallel, a major hike in investment in research to develop new and better drugs and other tools is essential."
At July's Group of Eight summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, world leaders pledged to work with African countries on malaria in order "to reach 85 percent of vulnerable populations with the key interventions that will save 600,000 children's lives a year by 2015 and reduce the drag on African economies from this preventable and treatable disease."
The goal of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership is to "halve the burden of malaria by 2010." The partnership was developed in 1998 by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank. Actions include raising awareness, mobilizing resources for malaria control and promoting research for more effective tools against the disease.
"Malaria-endemic countries are caught in a vicious circle of disease and poverty," Roll Back Malaria reported. "Malaria slows a country's economic growth, discourages foreign investment and tourism, discourages the development of internal trade and adversely affects people's choice of economic activities while depleting human resources."
The economic cost of malaria for Africa is estimated at $12 billion annually.
"Ultimately, malaria has to be integrated with other community health issues," Thomas said, adding that the community-based program also will address issues such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
Donations, payable to the United Methodist Committee on Relief, should be designated to Advance No. 982009, "Malaria Control." Checks can be dropped in church collection plates or mailed directly to UMCOR at P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068. Credit-card donations can be made by calling, toll free, (800) 554-8583.
UMCOR also has prepared a church bulletin insert on the malaria program that can be downloaded from www.umcor.org by clicking on the resources link.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Audio Interview with the Rev. R. Randy Day
"This is a project churches will be excited about."
"We're stepping out on faith to address Malaria"
Related Articles
United Methodists should fight malaria deaths, executive says
Anti-malaria project to receive additional UK funding
Fighting the parasite from hell
Resources
General Board of Global Ministries
United Methodist Committee on Relief
Roll Back Malaria
WHO Fact Sheet
Malaria in Southern Africa
|
