Malaria on the web

The text for this lesson:

Isabella, 46, is the HR superintendent at the Nzoia Sugar Company in western Kenya. Jamal, 11, is her third and youngest child. For years, malaria made their lives a nightmare. Jamal was born a weak child, and was allergic to milk from the beginning. He was six months old when he suffered his first malaria attack, and from then on, was frequently ill with the mosquito-borne fever. Jamal was a very playful child. But right in the middle of a game, he would suddenly start to have a stomach ache and then a headache, Isabella says. The malaria attacked him every two weeks so he often had to go into hospital. This went on for a number of years.

But one day when Jamal was nine, a doctor told Isabella about mosquito nets. Mosquitos are dangerous especially at night so sleeping under bed nets is very effective. Isabella says I bought the nets, followed the instructions carefully, and Jamal’s problems with malaria are now history. I have even sent him to a boarding school. It was a big step for Isabella because before this, she watched Jamal carefully every day. And it’s much cheaper to buy nets than to pay the doctors, she adds.