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A United Nations Foundation delegation recently visited communities across Tanzania, from the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro to the shores of Zanzibar, on an observation trip to see how faith communities and governments can work together to stop the spread of malaria.
Adventure seekers know the village of Marangu, Tanzania as the gateway to Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa. However, before you reach the trailhead, veer to the left onto a winding, rutted, dirt road, and you’ll discover a lesser-known corner of Marangu. This is home to Ngaruma Parish, a community of 700 or so Lutheran worshippers, and ground zero in Tanzania’s fight against malaria.
The fight against malaria touches many people. Health workers, families caring for loved ones and the ill themselves are the first many might imagine. But malaria affects whole communities. As a result, entire communities band together to help prevent this deadly disease.
Imagine a life where you live on less than two dollars a day. You have been saving for months to afford a trip to the health clinic. With your payment in hand, you walk three hours to get to the nearest clinic, carrying your young children with you. When you finally arrive, you want to be able to receive information and testing for HIV and also pick up contraception to prevent pregnancy, but you’re told that the clinic does not provide both services.
Over the span of three decades, humanity has witnessed the rise of one of the world’s deadliest diseases, and also launched one of history’s greatest global attacks. Just 30 years ago, AIDS was barely uttered in newspapers anywhere around the globe, let alone becoming a household term. Twenty years ago, AIDS became the number one cause of death for U.S. men ages 25 to 44.
Florence Daka is a healthy mother of four who lives in Lusaka, Zambia. She sees her children off to school every morning and works a full day cleaning offices. That may not sound extraordinary, but it is. It’s extraordinary because Florence is alive and well and living with HIV, thanks to the effective treatment that she takes.
As a child growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I watched my mother go to work each day, dedicated to running our local women’s health clinic. A staunch defender of reproductive rights, she was armed with more than a team of medical experts, but also the kindness and wisdom that patients—many of them young women—relied on to prepare for the rest of their lives.
Ten years ago today, the continent of Europe was certified polio-free. This was a critical landmark and helped to accelerate efforts to stamp out the disease everywhere.
Frontline health workers, including nurses, midwives and community health workers, are the first and often the only link to health care for millions of people living in the developing world. These invaluable figures in communities throughout the world are critical in settings where overall primary health care systems are weak or inaccessible.
