Conquering Death, Conquering Malaria

As we celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection,
we take joy in the emergence of light and possibility.

In alignment with 2022 World Malaria Day’s message of “strengthening country ownership,” Pilgrim Africa collaborated with multiple partners to implement the first-ever Public-Private-Partnership for malaria vector control in Kampala.

Guided by the National Malaria Control Division and spearheaded by Malaria-Free Uganda, numerous public and private organizations worked tirelessly to carry out indoor spraying in neglected households in five urban slum areas.

Pilgrim Africa staff are now surveying the work, measuring malaria infection rates and interviewing families. Impact is beginning to show!

Mrs. N. Jane is a single mother of four children and is a resident of Kisenyi slum in Kampala. The slum is characterized by high poverty levels; makeshift, crowded housing made of temporary building materials; poor drainage and accumulated garbage; high levels of school dropouts; teen pregnancies, a high burden of communicable diseases; and a high crime rate.

Jane operates a small restaurant and does food vending within this slum and stays in a two-room rented house with her four kids and one grandson. The house is located next to a blocked drainage channel that collects sewage and rainwater from the neighboring households. Before the spraying of the slums by Pilgrim Africa, Jane was constantly in and out of clinics treating herself and the children for malaria almost every month. Jane would barely save a penny from her small vending business since the clinics would consume 20,000-30,000 UGX ($6-$9) for each treatment per person.

Now, three months after Pilgrim’s spray campaign, there has not been a single episode of malaria in Jane’s household. She has managed to save part of her children’s school fees from her business and pay the outstanding debt on for two months rent. Jane can sleep soundly since the spraying reduced the heavy infestation of bedbugs in her house.

This is the work Pilgrim Africa is privileged to support:
country-led, all hands-on deck, unafraid of resource constraints.

This is the story of the most burdened among us;
a story of power, love, and sound minds that will defeat malaria.

Happy World Malaria Day!

“Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a dew of light,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.”
Isaiah 26:19