Mosquito’s Physical Proximity

Mosquito’s Physical Proximity

Since December 2019, the infectious disease COVID-19 has spread across the world. Africa has not been spared, but the delayed arrival of the virus on the continent has provided us with an opportunity to prepare ourselves, though our socio-economic conditions limit our ability to apply the most effective means of prevention; physical distancing.

Physical distancing is not only effective for stopping the spread of COVID-19 but also of other infectious diseases, like malaria. While the former requires that we keep away from people, the latter requires us to remain distant from the mosquito. But for that to happen, we need access to decent living conditions where stagnant water is not a permanent feature, where there is widespread access to clean water and sanitation and the ability to sleep under a net. In the meantime, until that can happen, there are 228 million preventable cases affecting predominantly women and children.

Unlike COVID-19, in which the first African wave has been mild, Africa is home to 93 per cent of malaria cases and 94 per cent of malaria deaths. In their physical proximity with us, mosquitoes infect us and make malaria a huge risk for children under 5 and pregnant women. Malaria is so pervasive that it is viewed as inevitable, yet not lethal when identified and treated early. The speed at which countries react to malaria may suggest that we may have lost our sense of urgency in fighting it. It’s like we’ve come to accept death from a preventable and curable disease as an integral part of life in Africa. But that’s not right. We must stop it from occurring in our communities with the same eagerness demonstrated to beat COVID-19. Indeed, the COVID-19 experience must re-ignite the fact that to reach zero Malaria cases in Africa, it starts with each one of us.

Our environment as well as our health infrastructure needs to be made resilient against all forms of health threats. COVID-19 did not only expose weaker health systems, it revealed the narrow focus on health financing in Africa. The ventilators were, portably, never a big issue because most of the usual suspects’ diseases on the continent did not require it for treatment. But it is now clearer. And COVID-19 put a spotlight on vertical disease funding when faced with an acute endogenous or exogenous shock which was under or not funded.

Ebola in West Africa and currently in DRC prompted our communities to enact measures required to preserve life. But the mechanism not to contract Ebola or COVID-19 is clear though challenging in many communities requiring physical proximity for both social and economic sustenance. With malaria, even with physical distancing, hand washing, face masks, all it needs is the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. That bite still translates into one too many deaths in Africa. It remains unbeaten even in times COVID-19. The mosquito prefers physical proximity. It finds you in your home even under lockdown. It will spare you if you sleep under a mosquito net or seek effective timely treatment in case of a fever. It is reassuring that Benin, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, and Sierra Leone continue their planned malaria programmes, including mass distribution of ITNs, while taking precautionary measures against COVID-19.

We must come together at a time when lots of resources are allocated to COVID-19, lesser tax collections are expected but national responses to maintain adequate levels of services for malaria and other diseases are capital for the effective economic recovery.

If I were Malaria, I would feel jealous of Africa’s response to COVID-19 and eliminate myself from this continent. I have been factored in by businesses, people self-diagnose for any symptom that they may have, leaders, call my name once a year and make promises. Though I thought my statistics were good in terms of death rate, a possible source of concern for business leaders, governments, civil society and citizen, I was mistaken. They may have accepted that death by malaria is part of the experience of living in Africa. That makes me wonder what kind of response they could have given Corona if they had eliminated me and used the billions of dollars invested to strengthen health systems and not just to fight me.

But I will not go away without putting up a fight. Malaria elimination is connected to socio-economic development. As they battle COVID-19, I watch in awe over the promises that have been made and the resources committed to beat it. But just like me, it may just be here to stay unless there is a fundamental change in the way they value the most vulnerable in their slums and rural communities. We need better sanitation (better sewage), access to water for handwashing and better hygiene. These investments must focus on vulnerable communities and will represent an investment in communities thus jobs. Decent jobs are a pathway to self-actualisation and self-protection from diseases of physical distancing or physical proximity.

Of course, I am not malaria, and instead, as a development practitioner, I am hopeful that malaria will be eliminated in Africa. The COVID-19’s response shows that focusing on vulnerable communities and Micro Small Medium Enterprises can pave the way for policymakers to redesign our economies so that endogenous and exogenous shocks face resilient communities. Zero COVID-19 starts with me and on World Malaria Day we must remember that Zero Malaria also starts with me and all of us and that we must act now to save lives.

 

NOTE: Opinion expressed in this article are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the West Africa Civil Society Institute.

 

About the author

Carl Manlan, from the Ivory Coast, is an economist with a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. His areas of expertise include African economic transformation, health, finance and project implementation. Having worked with communities in Africa, he has developed systems to improve public health financing to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. He is currently the chief operating officer (COO) of the Ecobank Foundation which aims to improve the quality of life of people across the African continent with a focus on three areas: health, education and financial empowerment.

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Carl Manlan

Carl Manlan, from the Ivory Coast, is an economist with a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. His areas of expertise include African economic transformation, health, finance and project implementation. Having worked with communities in Africa, he has developed systems to improve public health financing to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. He is currently the chief operating officer (COO) of the Ecobank Foundation which aims to improve the quality of life of people across the African continent with a focus on three areas: health, education and financial empowerment.

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FIIFI BOATENG

Fiifi is a Ghanaian and currently serves as Communications and Information Officer at the West Africa Civil Society Institute. He joined the Institute in December 2020.

NANCY KANKAM KUSI

Nancy is a Ghanaian and currently serves as Programme Officer in the Knowledge Management unit at the West Africa Civil Society Institute. She joined the Institute in January 2021.

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Agnes is a Ghanaian and currently serves as Head of the Administration unit in the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI). She joined the Institute in October 2021.

DORIS ODEI

Doris holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social sciences (Economics and Sociology) from the University of Cape Coast. She is passionate about impacting young lives hence co-founded Impart Foundation. A non-profit organization which seeks to empower young lives through education, technology and entrepreneurship.

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Ibrahim Kwaku Gbadago is a Ghanaian. He joined the Institute in 2008 and provides janitorial services and assisting the institute's errands. Before joining the Institute, he worked at the Palestinian embassy in Accra, Ghana.

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Ruth Yakana is from Cameroon and currently the Receptionist at the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI). She joined the Institute in 2020.

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Whitnay Segnonna holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Management from the University of Benin. With 2 years of experience, she has a strong knowledge of organizational and project management. Combined with her bilingualism, she is very passionate about her work. She joined WACSI as Project Assistant on Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) for the Capacity Development Unit.

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Lilian Dafeamekpor is a Ghanaian and currently the Assistant to the Executive Director at the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI). She joined the Institute in 2020.

JOHN P. FRINJUAH

John P. Frinjuah has expertise and interests in civil society, international development, democracy and governance, conflict, crisis, and security. He has extensive experience working with civil society and international development organizations where he supported and managed research, programmes, and provided technical assistance on a variety of themes around public policy, governance, and development. He is an alumnus of the University of Ghana and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy - Tufts University in the United States, with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from two institutions respectively. John speaks English, French and several Ghanaian and regional West Africa languages.

GERVIN CHANASE

Gervin has extensive international development experience, including 5 years of policy advocacy and capacity building of grass root organisations. He has implemented over the years a combination of agriculture value chain, livelihood, food security and governance and rights programmes.
Prior to joining WACSI, Gervin worked on two USAID projects focusing on agriculture value chain development and governance in northern Ghana
Gervin holds a master’s degree in development & Governance from the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany as well as a Masters in Global Studies from the Universities of Vienna (Austria), Leipzig (Germany) and California (Santa Barbara), USA. He is passionate social justice and inclusion.

LEANDRE BANON

Leandre Banon, Beninese, joined WACSI in September 2014 as Capacity Development Programme Assistant. Since then, he has worked in various units within the Institute to support operational and institutional capacity strengthening programmes for civil society in the region. Currently serving as Capacity Development Programme Officer at WACSI, his main responsibilities involve designing, planning, implementing and monitoring capacity development programmes for civil society constituents and grouping across the West Africa. Leandre is a certified Change the Game Academy Programme Trainer. His background lies in the areas of economics and development planning.

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FRANCK A. SOMBO

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Franck is a Fellow of the International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) and a graduate of the Graduate Training Institute (GTI) - Ghana with specialization in Strategic Management and Corporate Leadership. He has a rich experience in Project Management, Capacity Development, Strategic planning, Data Analytics, Monitoring and Evaluation, Training and Facilitation, Mentoring and Coaching among others.

OMOLARA T. BALOGUN

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She joined WACSI in November 2009 as a Regional Advocacy Consultant and later became the first Policy Advocacy Officer of the Institute in 2010.

She was promoted to Head of the Policy Influencing and Advocacy (PIA) Unit in 2015. As the Head of the PIA unit, Omolara offers strategic direction to the Institutes’ ambitions to connect and convene groups of organised and organic civil society actors; and influence regional and global discourses on crosscutting policy issues including—civil society regulations, sustainable development goals, civic space and enabling environment, aid effectiveness, gender equality, and civil society accountability.

Previously, Omolara served as a Programmes Associate with the Women in Peace and Security Network-Africa (WIPSEN-Africa), where she worked with her team to design and implement pan-African programmes on—multidimensional peace support operations and gender mainstreaming in security sector reform in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

She also served as a Service Development Marshal at TVQ Consulting Group, a customer service firm focused on designing strategic customer relationship and business growth plans for private and public financial institutions in Nigeria.

Omolara is a social justice advocate, a network weaver, and a convener. She has a postgraduate degree in Peace and Conflict Studies; a degree in International Relations and History, from the University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria respectively.

She also holds executive certificates in Behavioral Science in Public Policy from Harvard University Executive Education in Cambridge and in Citizen Advocacy from the Coady International Institute, St Francis Xavier University in Canada.

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CHARLES KOJO VANDYCK

Charles currently serves as the Head of the Capacity Development Unit at the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI). Charles has over 10 years of experience working in international development and social justice issues in Africa. Charles has expertise in strengthening civil society and public agencies including the design and implementation of governance and leadership programmes, development of knowledge pieces and policy advice. Charles was the founding Board Chair of Innovation for Change (i4C)-Hub Afrique, as well as the founding member of the International Consortium on Closing Civic Space (iCon), an initiative of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC. Charles currently serves as the Member of the Governing Board (Coordination Collective) of Africans Rising. He is a Member of the Development Studies Association, United Kingdom. Charles is a 2017 Stanford University Fellow for Nonprofit Leaders and a certified Change the Game Resource Mobilisation Trainer.

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