It was 2003, we decided to take a short getaway from Chad to Northern Cameroon. Our two children at the time had a great time in the Baptist guest house where we were staying. The getaway was enjoyable overall, but as we hopped into our truck for the return trip to Chad, Art started to not feel so well. When we got close to the Chad boarder, Art was feeling even worse and after stopping, had to steady himself on the hood of the truck. By the time we got home from the around 6-hour trip, Art was vey ill. He laid down on the bed with very little strength to even speak. He thought he was at death’s door.
Malaria had hit, and it had hit powerfully. Thankfully, we had some training on how to treat this deadly illness. After a day or two, the medication began to take effect, and Art was on his way to a full recovery.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for between 400,000 to 700,000 people each year throughout the world. For them, malaria leads to death. Sadly, the majority of these deaths are in children 5 years of age and younger.
Shockingly, every year there are over 200 million reported cases of malaria throughout the world. Over 90% of these cases occur in Sub-Sahara Africa, where Chad is situated. In 2016, Chad had over 800,000 reported cases.
Thankfully, there have been measures put in place to help reduce the number of cases. The United Nations Development Program and Global Fund began distributing bed nets to the entire population of Chad in 2017. On Art’s visit to Chad last Oct, one of the Chadians he stayed with was part of the bed net distribution program, and Art was himself able to make use of one of the bed nets.
While the distribution of bed nets will not eliminate the seriousness of malaria for the impoverished people of Chad, the hope is that it will greatly decrease the mortality rate.
https://www.malariaconsortium.org/where-we-work/chad-mainpage.htm
https://www.unicef.org/media/files/MALARIAFACTSHEETAFRICA.pdf
https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/chad_73218.html
https://reliefweb.int/report/chad/fighting-malaria-conflict-affected-regions-chad