“My name is Joseph Tucker. I am 38 years old and I am a farmer. I have four children and we live in Bandajuma Village. I was appointed by my community to be a Community Health Volunteer because I was well known by everyone and I met the criteria of being able to read and write and being reliable and honest. I received three days of training from MSF where I learnt about malaria and how to diagnose it and treat it. Then, three weeks ago, our community was given a health kit, containing the diagnosis tools and ACTs so I could start my role of volunteer.
Normally I see patients between 7am – 10am every day and then I go to work in my field. If there are very serious patients that need to be seen during the day, then I come back from my field and treat them.
In my village there are 145 children under the age of five and four pregnant women. 43 of the children and pregnant women I tested in the last 3 weeks were malaria positive.
Before this time, they would have had to walk 3 miles to reach the nearest clinic to get treated. Now, we even have people coming to our village from other villages because they know we have the tools to treat malaria.
Malaria is a very dangerous problem in our community and I am very happy to be a community health volunteer because I am saving lives.”
“I am Jabaty M. Juana. I live in Mandu village with my wife and six children. I am 31 years old and I am a farmer. Malaria is a very big problem in Mandu. When people come to me with fever, I test them, and if they are positive, I treat them with ACTs. I feel very happy to be a volunteer because I am saving lives, especially the lives of children. My village has benefited very much because our people no longer have to walk for miles to the nearest clinic, now they get the treatment at a faster rate and for free in our own community.
We have had the health kit for almost one month, and people are even coming to me from other villages nearby because they know that we can treat malaria in Mandu. I have treated people every day, and we have had 44 malaria cases in the last three weeks. They are all very happy because they got treatment quickly and they are all well.”