Mary's story

When your child is seriously ill with cerebral malaria – one of worst forms of the disease – you will do anything to try and help them. For Mary, who is a subsistence farmer, this meant having to sell the family’s goat - an important source of food and income for her family - to pay the hospital bill for her daughter Lucy who ended up in hospital for a week of life-saving treatment. Fortunately Lucy made a full recovery and is back in school. But the cost of the hospital stay means the family now has less income and will struggle even more if another child becomes sick. Across Africa, malaria costs some families up to 25% of their household income helping to continue a cycle of poverty as it stops people working, earning a living and takes away money to pay for treatment.

But Mary has a neighbour (also named Mary) who as a Community Health Worker has helped educate her and the village about how malaria is spread, and how important it is to seek proper testing and treatment quickly. As well as now knowing how to help prevent malaria, for example by using mosquito bednets, she also understands that the right treatment is also important. Before she used to rely on herbal remedies her mother had taught her to use to treat malaria fevers. “Malaria is very common in my village and all my children have suffered from malaria many times. But I’m so grateful for the treatment which saved Lucy’s life and now understand how to protect my family better thanks to the information from my neighbour and Community Health Worker”.