Our Work: Protecting Mothers and Children from Malaria in Coastal Tanzania

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It’s the rainy season in eastern Tanzania. The villages of Mtwara are buzzing with excitement — and mosquitoes. Today is Village Health Day, a monthly event organised by AMREF and local leaders that brings people together to eat, socialise, and talk about health. Especially malaria, a leading killer of children under five across sub-Saharan Africa.

In Namkuku Village, a drama group performs a skit about insecticide-treated bednets. The audience has formed a circle around them and watches intently as the actors dramatise the conflict within a family about who should sleep under their net.

“You’re a strong man,” says the actress who plays the wife. Like everyone in the cast, she belongs to the AMREF-trained village health team. “You have some immunity against malaria. Our babies have no immunity yet. If they are bitten by mosquitoes, they will get much sicker than you.”

The actor playing the husband pretends to think about this for awhile. Finally, he agrees. “You’re right. We will get a second one. You and the babies will sleep under this one in the meantime.”

Because of its coastal setting and relative impoverishment, Mtwara District suffers from malaria mortality rates twice the national average. The majority of the deaths are among infants and young children. AMREF’s Mtwara Malaria Control Programme works closely with district authorities and local communities to provide education, training, nets, and medicine so they can overcome the burden of chronic ill-health caused by malaria. Community health worker Amina Nwaya explains why education is important:

“The problem isn’t that people in my village can’t afford nets,” she says.

“Some can, some cannot. The bigger problem is education. People have resigned themselves to getting sick. They think the nets do not make a difference or they even believe that sleeping under a net will cause suffocation.”

Trained by AMREF, Amina regularly visits the families in her village to make sure they are protecting themselves against malaria. Like the 1298 other health workers AMREF has trained in villages across the district, she is especially vigilant when it comes to new mothers and their babies.

“Malaria can progress very, very quickly in infants especially. I teach mothers to identify the symptoms and encourage them to call on me any time. Then I can advise on treatment and make a quick referral to the local health clinic.”

Since 2007, the Mtwara Malaria Control Programme has distributed over 9,000 insecticide-treated bednets since its inception. Over 90% of young children, nearly 80% of mothers, and 50% of fathers now sleep under nets [Bindu to confirm these stats]. Malaria deaths have dropped significantly among mothers and children as a result.

Liyaya Dihone, a mother of three from nearby Mbambakofi Village, has seen firsthand the difference bednets and health education can make: “Before AMREF came, I used to go to the dispensary every week for malaria treatment. I or one of my children was always sick. I worried I would lose them, but like most people, I accepted that malaria was a fact of life. You couldn’t escape it.”

“With AMREF’s help, I have come to realise that I myself have the power to protect my childrens’ future.”

Our work in Mtwara is supported by the European Union.