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lurker
509 Posts |
 Posted - 12 Dec 2007 : 12:20:42
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Colleagues, good morning from a freezing London, where it is so cold that there was ice on the cars this morning.
I have been fortunate to have been able to travel extensively over Africa in my lifetime.
The perils of disease are never far from the back of a Toubab's mind when setting foot on the Continent.
I am a tad perplexed about local attitude in Gambia towards malaria and perhaps you can shed light .
Most of the gambians i know pay little heed to malaria. it is a hazard of being alive in The Gambia.The local and even Central Government seem to do nothing to educate or prevent or cure this affliction - which i believe kills 2000000 Africans a year.
Stagnant water sits year round on the streetsides. Spraying is something i have yet to hear of in the urban areas. free preventive medication, free treatment - unheard of. I suppose this is all to do with finance as usual.Florida was malarial til they sprayed daily. - very expensive of course.
But......i know of no Gambians who sleep with a net. i know of no gambians who use Deet on their nets or clothes or spray themselves at dusk like we do when on holiday.
Do Gambians get taught these things in their schools and homes and then ignore them? Are they never even taught?
Surely a net would not cost much to buy and impregnate, especially for the kids?
Then there is the whole issue of the education of people about the treatment of Malaria. It is clear that a few injections of any old quinine at the local pharmacy may just about knock off the symptoms, but it will not eradicate the parasites without follow up tablets. Thus an awful lot of people are treated symptomatically . but incorrectly.
Again , money would seem to be the main issue, as well as , possibly, ignorance of the disease process and parasite life-cycle.
Is there a local, Gambian organisation that goes around educating the people about these issues?
Is this only in the domain of NGO's etc?
Mosquito eradication would help hugely, but relies on the Government actually giving a damn.
So, therefore, the people need to use nets and Deet. think of the lives saved.
Even the tourist hotels and lodges barely seem to use nets for the tourists, whereas every single place in east and southern africa i have visited routinely provide nets.
What's the story in the Gambia with this apparent lack of urgency about such a serious disease?
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Edited by - lurker on 12 Dec 2007 14:29:15 |
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tapalapa
United Kingdom
202 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jan 2008 : 15:30:47
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Lurker, Thank you for your comments about Malaria which I have only just read- After my recent experiences I am now taking this more seriously than ever before - (See my recent posting).
It would help if you could take us through the cycle of Malaria, It was this information that also made me decide to take more care
-Here is my understanding of it - Please correct or add as necessary-
1 Infected Mosquito Bites a human (The infection came from another
Human and ?
2.The parasite takes 30 minutes to travel to the back of a humans
liver. It lives there for up to 10 days laying and hatching eggs ?
When hatched the parasites travel through the blood stream,
bursting blood vessels along the way and entering bigger veins ?
3.Some eggs stay dormant behing the liver and can be there for up to
1 year before they hatch.
4 If not stopped the parasites travel to major organs.
Yak - I dont want these little buggers swimming through my body ! I will take the tablets !
5. There are different strains of parasite ?
More info wlecome (Put simply)
Tapa |
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Jack
Belgium
384 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jan 2008 : 16:05:11
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Lurker
Your posting is a bit strange to me, especially the issue that hotels dont pay attention to the problem.
I travelled so far 4 times to the Gambia and stayed as well as in better class hotels as in modest accomodations; i travelled along the coast from Kartong to Ginnack and up country in Tendaba, Georgetown, Farefenne, up to Basse. Everywhere i stayed there were mosquito nets.
And as fas as i know there is at least 1 campaign a year to provide nets to the people or treat the nets.
But in the compounds nets are often absent which means to me that the information and sensitisation about the desease should been intensified.
Regards
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