Prevention

Q: What are the people in these photos doing? A: Keeping themselves safe from malaria by sleeping under mosquito nets. Q: Who should sleep under mosquito nets? A: Everyone, because anyone can get bitten by a malaria mosquito. Q: When should you sleep under a mosquito net? A: Every single night, all year round.

Q: What is happening in these photos? A: A mosquito net is being hung up and tucked in around children. Q: What do mosquito nets do? A: They prevent malaria by protecting you from malaria mosquitos so they cannot bite you. Nets serve as a physical barrier as well as kill mosquitos on contact if they are treated with insecticide. Q: How do you use a mosquito net? A: Hang it over your bed/sleeping area, and make sure it reaches the ground. When you go to sleep, tuck it in all around the edges of your mattress/sleeping pad so there are no gaps for mosquitos to get in.

Q: Where can you obtain a mosquito net? A: [Be aware of your community’s resources!] You can often obtain a net, free of cost, from a community health worker or a distribution from a local organization. You also may be able to purchase a net in the market. Q: What should you do if you cannot get a mosquito net? A: You can take other preventive actions to help protect yourself from malaria, such as using DEET mosquito repellent, wearing long sleeves and light colored clothing, and cleaning up standing water where mosquitos can breed.

Q: What do you think is happening in this image? A: A woman is washing or re-treating a mosquito net. Q: How should you wash your mosquito net? A: In a bucket or basin, using soap and cold water, and being gentle as to not rip or tear the net. Q: When should you re-treat your mosquito net? A: If it is a regular ITN, after three washes (or 1-2 times a year if it is not washed). If it is an LLIN, you do not need to re-treat your net, but it does need to be replaced after 3 years.

Q: What is happening in these images? A: Women are repairing their mosquito nets by sewing up holes and tears with needles and thread. Q: Why is it bad to have holes or tears in your mosquito net? A: Because then there are openings for mosquitos to get inside the net and bite you. Q: What should you do if there is a rip or tear in your net? A: You should keep sleeping under your net but repair or replace it as soon as possible. Stitching up nets photos from: http://stompoutmalaria.org/case-study-regional-bed-net-care-and-repair-tour/ http://www.k4health.org/toolkits/care-repair-LLIN

Q: What is the man in this photo doing? A: He is spraying the walls of a house with insecticide (Indoor Residual Spraying, or IRS) Q: What does Indoor Residual Spraying do? A: It helps prevent malaria by killing or repelling mosquitos. Q: What should you do if someone comes to spray your house? A: You should let them come inside and spray your house! It will help protect you from malaria.

Transmission

Q: What do you see in this photo? A: A mosquito. Q: What kind of mosquito carries malaria? A: The female Anopheles mosquito. Q: When and who does the female Anopheles mosquito bite? A: The female Anopheles mosquito bites at night, usually from 9 PM to 5 AM. They will bite anyone – adult or child, male or female. Image: http://insolitanaturaleza.blogspot.com/2013/05/mosquito-anofeles-anopheles.html

Q: What is the malaria parasite? A: It is a tiny microorganism that causes the malaria disease. The top picture is of an infected person’s blood as seen under a microscope– the purple shapes are the malaria parasite! Q: How do mosquitos spread the malaria parasite and thus the malaria disease? A: When a mosquito bites an infected person, it picks up some of the malaria parasite. Then, when it bites a new person, it transfers the parasite to them, infecting them with malaria. Q: How many bites does it take for a mosquito to infect a person with the malaria parasite? A: It only takes one mosquito bite to get infected with malaria! Image:http://www.asianscientist.com/health-medicine/malaria-parasite-human-co-evolution-asia-pacific-2012/

Q: What is happening in the top image? A: A mosquito is biting someone. It could be giving the person the malaria parasite. Q: How is malaria transmitted? A: Malaria is spread by mosquito bites. Mosquito bites are the only cause of malaria. Q: Who can get malaria? A: Anyone can get malaria, regardless of their age or gender. Anopheles mosquitos will bite any human, so anyone can get the malaria disease. Mosquito image: © Stephen Morrison /epa/Corbis http://healthland.time.com/2009/12/23/interfering-with-mosquitoes-sex-lives-to-combat-malaria/

Q: What do you see in this image? A: People, mostly women and children, in a health clinic or hospital. Q: Is malaria a life-threatening disease? A: Yes! If it is not treated, malaria can kill you. However, it is also a completely preventable and curable disease. Q: Is malaria contagious? A: No! It cannot be spread directly from person to person. Malaria can only be spread through the bite of a mosquito.

Symptoms

Q: Which symptoms of malaria do the people in these images look like they have? A: Fever, headache, nausea Q: What are some other symptoms of malaria? A: Sweats, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, joint pain, loss of appetite, convulsions Q: What should you do if you have any symptoms of malaria? A: You should see a doctor or community health worker, or go to a health clinic, so you can get tested for malaria and receive proper medicine.

Q: What do you see in these photos? A: A sick child in the hospital and a woman at a health center getting checked by a doctor or health worker. Q: How can you avoid ending up in the hospital with malaria? A: Protect yourself from malaria, and go to a health center or clinic as soon as you have a fever or any other symptom to get proper testing and treatment. Q: Why is it important to get testing and treatment for malaria as soon as possible, even if you don’t feel very sick? A: The malaria disease can worsen quickly and even become deadly. Prompt testing and treatment will ensure you are cured quickly and that the disease does not escalate.

Testing

Q: What do you see in these photos? A: A doctor and a health clinic Q: If you suspect you have malaria, when should you go to the health clinic or doctor? A: Right away! If you have any malaria symptoms, do not wait– go to the health clinic or doctor as soon as possible. Q: What will happen when you go to the doctor or health clinic? A: You will get a test (RDT) to see if you have malaria. If you do, the doctor will give you ACT medicine to cure your malaria.

Q: What are these photos of? A: Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) Q: What do RDTs do? A: RDTs are tests that tell you if you have malaria by detecting malaria antigens in your blood. They take only about 20 minutes to get results! Q: When and where should you get an RDT? A: You can get an RDT at the local health clinic. You should get an RDT as soon as possible if you have a fever or any other symptoms of malaria.

Q: How can you know if you have malaria? A: You have to get an RDT test to diagnose whether or not you have malaria. You cannot know if you have malaria simply based on having a fever or other symptoms. Q: What do you have to do before starting to take ACT medicine? A: Get diagnosed! You need to go to a health center for an RDT to find out if you have malaria. Do not take ACT medicine unless you have actually been diagnosed with malaria. If you have a different disease or illness, ACT medicine will not cure you. Bottom image from http://www.unicef.org.nz/product/Anti-Malarial-Drugs

Treatment

Q: What do these photos show? A: ACT medicines for malaria Q: How do you take ACT medicine? A: You should follow the instructions the doctor or health clinic gave you. Be sure to finish all your pills! Typically, pills are taken once or twice a day for three days. Q: If you start to feel better, can you stop taking your ACT medicine? A: No! You must take the entire prescribed regimen of ACT medicine to cure your malaria.

Q: What do you think the people in these photos are doing? A: Taking medicine for malaria. Q: Is malaria curable? A: Yes! Malaria can be effectively treated and cured by taking ACT medicine. Q: How do ACTs work? A: ACTs cure malaria by killing the malaria parasites in your blood.

elimination

Q: What does it mean if malaria is eliminated from a place? Q: How many countries have eliminated malaria? Can you name some of them? A: Australia, Russia, essentially all of Europe, the US, Egypt, Libya, and Chile are just a few. As of 2013, 111 countries had eliminated malaria. Q: What does it mean if malaria is eliminated from a place? A: When a disease, such as malaria, is eliminated, it means that it is no longer in your village or country. There are no cases of the disease there; the disease is not being transmitted to anyone. Q: What can we do to eliminate malaria here in our community? A: Take action to prevent malaria and effectively treat all cases of the disease. Sleeping under mosquito nets every night, IRS, going to a health center at the first sign of a fever, and taking ACT medicine as instructed are some of the ways we can work to eliminate malaria. Top image from http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/world_map2.htm Bottom image from http://leadserve.fiu.edu/index.php/global-livinglearning-community/