Malaria Mondays

Or so we call them in order to remember to take our weekly dosage of Mefloquine to protect us from Malaria. Side affects to these pills include sleeplessness and vivid dreams. It is definitely true that I remember my dreams in the morning more now then before taking these pills, when before I hadn’t an inkling of any dreams. Certain nights are restless, where you never fully fall asleep nor do you ever fully wake-up, leaving utterly exhausted the entire next day. If this happened too often I would stop taking the pills entirely.

The fact is that if you sleep under a mosquito net that you decreases the chances of contracting Malaria by 50%. And across Africa, you cut deaths by Malaria in children by 1/3. That’s why you hear about such organizations as www.nothingbutnets.com, which hopes to help every African child sleep under a net. Malaria medicine is great for a season, but you can not take it for a lifetime or it will destroy your liver and therefore is not viable for African to take their entire lives. Contrary to popular belief, there is a cure to Malaria. And taken within the first 24-48hours of noticing the symptoms, you have a 97% chance of a full recovery from Malaria. However, the problem in Africa and why Malaria is killing xxx number of people every year, is that basic health care services are often too far to reach for people that they rarely seek treatment for ailments and many times the cost of services is more then they make in a month even though the cure only costs about $10.