Senegal: real lives

Patricia Awa Sarr got malaria, but she was lucky. In another place, in another time, she would have been forced to walk for hours with a high fever or hail a donkey cart for a sandy trek to a district health post. There a nurse would, hopefully, have enough time to treat her before things got worse.

Patricia, however, needed only enough strength to reach the health hut in her village of Sinthiou Mbadane where a qualified volunteer community health worker diagnosed and treated her.

"After the consultation, the community health worker gave me drugs and explained to me how to use them," says Patricia, a 28-year-old pastor's wife and mother of four. "He asked me to take the first drugs in his presence to see if I understood the explanation, and I did." Then he gave her advice about malaria prevention and advised her to sleep under an insecticide-treated mosquito net. Later she approached a community health educator attached to the health hut and chipped in $2 for a USAID-subsidised bed net.

ChildFund Australia's affiliate organisation in Senegal and USAID have had significant success through various programs in making treated bed nets more available to those who need them most. ChildFund in Senegal also trains community health workers in the treatment of malaria in villages, using the latest and most effective medicines. In addition, an education and communication campaign encourages pregnant women and young children to sleep under bed nets and helps mothers, grandmothers, and community members recognize the symptoms of malaria.

The project has helped my community have drugs and insecticide-treated mosquito nets when needed, which facilitates our health care and gives us means to prevent malaria," says Patricia. "As for me, I have recovered my good health and I follow the advice given to me, using the nets."