SUCCESS STORIES

One Man's Belief in Medicine Sets Example for a Whole Village

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Kalifabougou, Mali - In Mali, one of the poorest nations in the world, malaria is the primary cause of death among children under the age of five. Two million of Mali’s young children have an average of two malaria attacks a year. Out of those two million children, 100,000 will have a severe attack with neurological complications or will die. With the increase in drug resistant malaria, the government, along with its global partners has changed the treatment protocols to a new combination therapy called artemisinin-based combination therapy or ACT. While ACTs are becoming more available in the local health clinics, poor families are challenged to make the right decision for a child who may be feverish when less expensive, but ineffective chloroquine or traditional healers are nearby as an option. Sometimes a whole village can benefit from the judgment and good decisions of one family.

The story of Zana illustrates this point.

As a young man, Zana moved to the rural village of Kalifabougou from a larger city in Mali where he spent his childhood years growing up. His older brother was a good student who went on to become a doctor and Zana adopted his brother’s confidence in the usefulness and effectiveness of modern medicine.

In Kalifabougou, Zana lives with his wife and daughter. This is a village where many people rely on traditional therapies, but Zana believes that illnesses are best treated with modern therapies. “Modern medicine is fast and effective. It doesn’t exhaust the mother and the child because it acts quickly,” says Zana. “The main reason why people don’t use modern medicine is because they lack money. If money is available, no one will say that they don’t want to use modern medicine. When there is a vaccination campaign, women leave en masse with their children because it is free, but when they know they will have to pay a lot, they stay home. People love modern medicine, but it is poverty that keeps them from finding the right treatment.”

Zana’s belief was tested when his two -year year-old daughter Fatim became sick with a fever. Worried that Fatim’s fever was due to malaria, Zana took the extra money he made repairing motorcycles and used it to purchase cholorquine and paracetamol for his daughter. At first, the medicines seemed to help reduce Fatim’s temperature, but the child vomited up part of the tablets and by the evening her fever intensified. “When her fever returned I thought the tablets were not sufficient to cure her so I decided Fatim needed go to the health center right away”, said Zana. There the health agents concurred that Fatim needed to be treated for malaria, and she was given several syrups and injections to cure her infection. Fatim responded favorably to the treatment and her parents took her home that night, hoping their daughter would soon fully recover.

Just two days later, when she was with her mother in a nearby village Fatim became feverish again. “It was so hard for my wife. She held Fatim to comfort her and after a few minutes Fatim’s eye rolled back in her head and she began to violently convulse,” Zana explained. “My wife was shocked and terrified and hurried Fatim back to the health center in the village.”

At the repair shop where he worked, word came quickly to Zana that Fatim needed additional treatment. But he knew, because of the cost of their recent visits, he did not have enough money left to pay for more medicines. Nonetheless, Zana recognized convulsions are a symptom of severe malaria and that his daughter absolutely required medical care. “There was no question I had to find a way to pay for Fatim’s treatments,” said Zana. He rushed over to a neighbor’s house where he was able to borrow money on credit, and then raced back to the health center to meet his wife and daughter. Fatim was again treated for severe malaria, and after several injections and medications, her acute symptoms subsided. Zana followed his beliefs. And because of prompt medical attention sought by her parents, Fatim has since recovered and is now in good health.

Although many people are dissuaded from returning to the health center after one unsuccessful visit, Zana remains confident it is always the best way to treat illness. Zana reflects on his experience, “Two children might have the same illness, but one child might die because of a lack of money while the other might live because he received the right treatment. For example, my daughter had the same illness as another child in our village, but his parents thought that he needed to be treated by a traditional healer. Sadly, now that child is dead, and thank God, my daughter is healthy.” Zana’s efforts have affected the lives of not only his own children, but hopefully have influenced the behavior of other parents in his village as well. “In our community, we men discuss health in general, and our personal experiences in particular, when we sit under the tree or where I work repairing motorcycles,” Zana asserts. “I always tell my friends that if they have money, they should always take their child to the health center because it is faster and more effective. They should avoid neglecting an illness because then it will become severe and require more money and more effort.” Both his words and his actions may help protect and save the lives of children in Mali.