Thread by @SOhuabunwa_OFR

MY STORY by @Naza_Berry
#EndMalaria #WorldMalariaDay

I'm done, I won't live this way anymore, I'm done asking the same question all the time, today the #April25 puts an end to it all. The new question is why do I constantly allow it?.

My name is Dara and this is my story...

I am sorry if I sound heart broken, I'm heart broken. I'm tired of living this way, the pattern is encumbering, from fever to chills and the killing headache . Guess who's the cause of my pain? It's the female anopheles mosquito and her sisters,...

...they harbour the parasite Plasmodium species which are responsible for the fever, headache and chills.

I wouldn't believe another female could inflict such pain on a female. So many bad memories with her...

I could remember one time I killed Miss Anopheles Mosquito,...

...this particular one was a adult, dark brown to black in color, a small head with large eyes, a thorax, abdomen, two wings and six very slender legs. They were scales along the veins of her wings and long beak-like, sharp sucking mouth parts called a proboscis.

There was an antennae. After examining the vessel that harbours the parasite that causes my pain, I wasn't satisfied so I went to read up on her. I found out she only lives a few weeks to a month, then my excitement grew until I found out she was capable of producing...

...thousands of eggs during that time. She mates several times in her short life span, producing eggs after she has found a blood meal. Miss Anopheles mosquito lays her eggs in water which hatches into larvae, eventually emerging as adult mosquito...

Phewww, what an interesting way to leave a legacy. From my research plasmodium parasites enters the body through the saliva of Miss Anopheles mosquito and is the reason for malaria which gives me fever, headache and chills as symptoms.

Now I'm enlightened malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites. I got to find out that the parasites are spread to me through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes, called "malaria vectors." There are 5 parasite species that can cause me malaria, 2 of these species...

...P. falciparum and P. vivax – pose the greatest threat to my existence.

The transmission of malaria is more intense where the mosquito life span is longer and where it prefers to bite humans and other animals. Transmission also depends on climatic conditions...

...that may affect the number and survival of mosquitoes such as rainfall, temperature and humidity. I got to find out that infants, children under 5 years of age, pregnant women and patients with HIV/AIDS, as well as non-immune migrants, mobile populations...

...and travellers are at higher risk in contracting malaria. These facts and more leads to my decision today the 25th April not to be among the 228 million cases or the 405 000 deaths worldwide as at 2018.

With this my decision I have concluded that zero malaria starts with me! I'm choosing to play my part in taking ownership of malaria prevention and care.

For prevention I got to find out vector control is the main way to prevent and reduce malaria transmission.

If coverage of vector control interventions within a specific area is high enough, then a measure of protection will be conferred across my community. @WHO recommends protection for all people at risk of malaria with effective malaria vector control.

2 forms of vector control insecticide-treated mosquito nets and indoor residual spraying are effective in a wide range of circumstances.
I also got to know that antimalarial drugs can also be used to prevent malaria. For travelers, malaria can be prevented with certain drugs...

...which suppress the blood stage of malaria infections, thereby preventing malaria disease. For pregnant women living in moderate-to-high transmission areas, WHO recommends periodic preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine,...

...at each scheduled antenatal visit after the first trimester (3 months).

Similarly, for infants living in high-transmission areas of Africa, 3 doses of intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine are recommended, delivered alongside routine vaccinations.

So from today I won't live my life asking why me all the time with malaria, I'm putting an end to it, I'm done allowing it. I've made my decision, Zero malaria starts with me!

@WHO @WHONigeria @WHOAFRO