Only a Clean Environment Sustainably Kicks Out Malaria

Cause of the death of a child every second, infects 350-500 million people every year, and kills more than 1 million people in the world. These are the numbers, which according to the United Nations’ Children Funds(UNICEF), which best describe the toll of Malaria on  our world’s inhabitants- especially  those in Africa where more than 90% of  Malaria deaths occur and where Malaria accounts for more than 20 % of child deaths(UNICEF)

Women and children suffer from Malaria. When infected during pregnancy, the toll of Malaria is heavier not only on the mother but above all on the child. This is because Malaria is associated with severe anaemia and a host of illnesses affecting the pregnant woman and her unborn baby. The health of the pregnant woman thus made fragile, the risk of giving birth to a child with high exposure to sub-optimal growth and development hazards which are also leading causes of infant mortality.

Recent research has proven that a combination of Malaria and HIV is an explosive cocktail. According to scientists, Placental malaria increases the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission. This besides the above makes Malaria the number one killer disease in Africa (http://www.thebody.com/content/art13512.html)

The above statistics and facts from the United Nations Children Fund(UNICEF) on Malaria leaves no one indifferent and is the reason why Combating Malaria has in recent times become such a priority to governments in Africa and the rest of the developing world. The fight against Malaria by the international community it should be acknowledged has transcended speeches and declarations to become effective action. Thus in a bid to eradicate this disease and its effects on the maternal and child health, many initiatives have been taken.

 LAUDABLE BUT NOT VERY EFFICIENT APPROACH TO KICK OUT MALARIA

While international donors, governments, and Non-Governmental Organizations are to be lauded for these initiatives, the efficiency of the approaches adopted by policy makers to fight against Malaria is questionable and merits to be carefully reconsidered.

‘Malaria is a very bad disease; Malaria is a very bad disease. We must drive mosquitoes away’. This is the chorus of a song we sang during our hygiene classes in primary school. This song moves on to say how we must keep our environment clean by avoiding stagnant waters around the home to drive Mosquitoes away. As illustrated by wordings from this primary school song, the environment in which one lives determines how prone one is or is not to been infected by Malaria.

THE BEST DEFENCE IS ATTACK

In a country with majority of its people in rural areas and living below the poverty line and where poor housing and horrible living conditions are the order of the day , the fight against malaria should not be limited to the distribution of Mosquito treated bed nets and making the treatment of Malaria free to children below 5 years. While these moves are laudable, their sustainability is in doubt as this could be fairly compared to problem reduction rather than problem solving.

Most people in Cameroon, daily use the saying that, the best way to defend one’s self or property is to attack all those who are considered as threats. Personally, I do not totally agree with this saying but when it comes to the fight against malaria, I think the saying makes sense. Conscious of the  fact that  warm climates, which are predominant in Africa,  are a very important factor to  the development and survival of both  the mosquito and  malaria parasite(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100303162906.htm ), it is but normal it is a reality that the fight against malaria would be more efficient if the fight is not against malaria but against Mosquitoes and I think there is no better way of attacking them than by attacking their habitat.

SUSTAIN THE ENVIRONMENT TO SUSTAIN GAINS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST MALARIA

I am intimately convinced that, if people keep their environment clean and avoid all those behaviours which are favourable conditions for the establishment and proliferation of mosquitoes, Malaria will be made history. Such behaviours will of course only be sustained by government’s action in this light. Thus, if accompanied by laws and policies which encourages individual initiatives to keep the environment clean, safe, and free of mosquitoes  while punishing not only individuals but also the business community for any acts perpetrated by them which are harmful to the environment Malaria will be out powered. Trying to make Malaria history by merely providing   insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), as it s done now, will only contribute to making this dream a nightmare.

Therefore, as governments and international funding bodies involve in the fight against malaria organize events and activities to mark this year’s World Malaria Day(celebrated under the theme: Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in Malaria) on April 25th, they must keep in mind for any  fight against Malaria and its effects on infant and maternal health to bear fruits that will last, environmental protection   must be  put at the heart of Malaria eradication programs and  the living conditions of the people in Malaria prone areas , through various empowerment and poverty alleviation  programs,  must be improved upon. This is imperative if Cameroon, which is ranked 18th amongst the 20 countries in the world with the highest mortality for children under the age of 5, is to achieve the Health related Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) and make real its dreams of becoming an emerging nation by 2035.

Besides the above, environmental  policies which severely punishes  corporations, which through industrial activities, contributes to making our climate  warmer, thereby providing a fertile ground for the proliferation of mosquitoes and spread of Malaria, should put in place by governments to reduce global warming and the spread of Malaria.

Truly, to sustain gains and save Lives from the wrath of Malaria, we should invest in making our environment cleaner, safer, and more sustainable.

Marrying at 15 is her Greatest Regret

In Cameroon, taxis and other public transport have become the place where Cameroonians most enjoy discussing political and social issues. And so it happened a few weeks ago that I boarded a Taxi whose driver did not stop telling people of the disgust he had for parents who send their girls to school.

‘At 14, when my daughter passes her BEPC(GCE o level), I send her to school for two more years to go and ‘waste time’ so that she reaches 16 and I give her out to a man for marriage. No girl in my home aged 16! Her husband’s home is where she belongs’, said the driver proudly with the tone of his voice revealing how convinced he was of what he had just said.

I looked at him with anger and then thought of the many girls whose lives have been ruined by selfish and inconsiderate decisions taken by their parents to get them out of school and ‘ hand them over’ to their so-called husbands. Furious at the sayings of the driver, I could not help but think about Linda (not her real name), whom I met some years back.

Linda, like 36% of girls in Cameroon, was a victim of child marriage (UNICEF). She hails from one of Cameroon’s rural communities, which account 23% of the cases of forced marriages in the country (UNICEF). Linda dropped out of school in form three (third year of secondary school) 10 years ago following pressure from her parents to marry a man, 20 years older than her, and whom she had never met. Bowing to her parents’ pressure she thus forfeited her rights to education, her rights to choose to marry whom she loves, and her rights as a child.

MARRYING AT 15 YEARS IS LINDA's GREATEST REGRET

Having no choice in the face of this decision taken by her parents, at 15, Linda’s dreams of becoming a Doctor were thus shattered. Today, Linda is 25 , has 3 children whose upkeep is sole dependent her, has become the bread winner for her household, and regrets having giving in to the pressure mounted on her by her parents to get married to this man for whom she has become a child bearing instrument and sole provider.

The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that marriage should be ‘entered only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses’. Going by this definition and taking into consideration the stands of the Convention on the Elimination on All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which holds that children below 18 years should not be allowed to get married because they do not have full maturity and capacity to act, one will have every reason to stand against child marriages-any union in this circumstances will be considered as forced marriage.

But according to Plan International, an international Non Governmental Organization (NGO), ten million girls under the age of 18 marry each year. Still not moved? The above figure implies that:
• 833,333 girls under 18 marry each month
• 192,307 girls under 18 marry each week
• 27,397 girls under 18 marry each day
• 19 girls under 18 marry each every minute
• Around 1 girl under 18 marries every three seconds

Despite the fact that all sub-Saharan African countries (except Somalia) are signatories to the Charter on Rights of a Child, Sub-Saharan Africa has the second highest rate of early and forced marriage (38%) according to statistics from the above mentioned NGO . 14.3 million girls in this region are married before they reach 18. Studies show that the average age of marriage in this region remains among the world's lowest and the percentage of adolescent mothers the world's highest.

CAUSES RANGING FROM TRADITION TO POVERTY

In Cameroon, child marriage is most prevalent in rural areas, where poverty , traditions, ignorance of the law, and illiteracy still reign supreme . These include traditional, religious and cultural practices which continue to treat women as commodities and inferior beings that have little or no role to play in their communities and are good only for the kitchen.

Also, the prevailing poverty in rural areas makes the girl the only realistic potential source of income to parents. They thus arrange marriages for these girls and charge a bride price that will enable them buy food, and other household commodities. This may also be to pay back money borrowed by a parent who cannot repay and so gives the daughter in the place of payment.

CHILD MARRIAGE: A WICKED PRACTICE

The negative effects of early marriage in my community go beyond just the girls concerned and affect the children they give birth to. Thus low weight babies and a high rate of morbidity among children born by girls in forced marriages is very common.

Young married girls are more often than not victims of Ve sico Vaginal Fistula (VVF). VVF is incontinence of the bladder which allows the patient to pass urine indiscriminately. VVF in arises in cases of forced marriages because of the very tender age and immaturity of the sexual organs of the girls who are forced into these unions.

Also , young married girls are exposed to: mental health effects, the hazards of contracting HIV/AIDS and STIs from their older husbands and above all to unwanted pregnancies, Premature births, and other pregnancy-related complications which at times take away the lives of these young girls. In fact, in low and middle income countries, childbirth is the #1 killer of young women between ages 15 and 19.

POLITICAL WILL IS NOT ENOUGH TO END CHILD MARRIAGES

I very much agree that political will, the voting of laws that prohibit child marriage, the equitable distribution of resources to its citizens to mitigate the effects of poverty and reduce illiteracy are needed to put an end to child marriages in Cameroon. But I am more than convinced that a more accessible, affordable, conducive, and above all inclusive educational system is needed to effectively fight against forced marriages

The educational system in rural areas is a great push factor for early marriages in Cameroon. Gender based violence(GBV), poor infrastructure, gender bias teaching material(text books), cultural practices which discourage parents from fully investing on the education of women, and a non-conducive learning environment are all motivating factors for girls to drop out of school. Hailing from a rural community, I have observed that most girls who drop out of school have marriage as a main option. Thus, education in rural communities should be made not only more accessible and efficient but also more welcoming to girls.

To guard against the consequences of child marriage, girls must be protected against traditional and religious practices that enslaves and traumatizes them. So that, unlike Linda who is today a roadside roasted maize seller, they all achieve their dreams of greatness in this world. All girls have the right to live happy and fulfilled lives, don’t they?

This blog can also be read at:http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/u/Gastonkwa/2012/4/23/Marrying-at-15-is-her-Greatest-Regret

The Stigma of Childlessness

Rarely in Cameroon does a week go by without one hearing of an attempted child theft or of the disappearance of a child. The most popular of this is the Vanessa Tchatchou affair((Read my blog post on this affair at:www.amplifyyourvoice.org/u/Gastonkwa/2012/312/vanessa-Her-Stolen-Baby-and-the-plight-of-women).The theft of Vanessa’s baby is not an isolated case in Cameroon, in the past 2 months the local media has reported  more than 2 cases of child theft(http://www.cameroon-info.net/stories/0,31995,@,douala-equinoxe-tv-aide-a-retrouver-un-bebe-vole.html, http://news.jetcamer.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=581). This rising rate of acts of child thievery in Cameroon exposes the ugly face of a phenomenon that has eaten deep into the fabrics of the Cameroonian society.

While poverty, greed, impunity, and illiteracy are to blame for these rampant and scandalous acts of child thievery, the stigmatization of women who have not given birth or cannot conceive and bear children carries an even heavier blame as illustrated by the declaration of Thérèse Diane Mouli Nguetti to the press. Caught with a child she had stolen, she declared that,"At 18, I had a child who died three months later. Since that time until when I stole the baby, I was childless. I was told this was the consequence of a bad fate that was thrown on me "(http://www.cameroon-info.net/stories/0,31995,@,douala-equinoxe-tv-aide-a-retrouver-un-bebe-vole.html)

CHILDLESSNESS: MORE THAN A BURDEN;A BONDAGE

Cameroon has the second highest rate of childlessness in the world. Demographic and health surveys carried out in Cameroon between 1994 and 2000  revealed that 7.3% of women  were childless with 22% of this cases identified among women aged 25-49 years(http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/infertility/DHS-CR9.pdf)

Given the importance attached to having children and the fact that, not been able to conceive and bear children in Cameroon is often attached to witchcraft and largely seen as been a punishment from God (or a supernatural force), women   who are suffering from primary or secondary infecundity are subjected to all sorts of treatments and are victims of the worst form of abuses that anyone can possibly imagine.

In fact Demographic and Health surveys carried out in Cameroon (1994-2000) revealed that 38 Percent of women were divorced or separated because they were childless, primarily sterile, or secondarily sterile. These surveys also revealed that 69 percent of women in a polygynous first union were childless or primarily sterile. The rate of divorce and marrying of another wife by men for reasons related to their female partners being childless or sterile are only a visible tip of the ice berg as these women are often repudiated by their husbands (most marriages in Cameroon are not legalized so the law on divorce will not apply in cases like these), not allowed to participate in some community activities, and even buried in a disgraceful way-behind the house and with a small stone in one of her palms. As if to wipe off memories of their existence from people’s mind and tell the dead person that since she was not able to procreate, the only way to thank her is to give her that small stone.

WHEN CHILDLESSNESS TURNS INTO HOPELESSNESS

Thus humiliated and abused, these women are willing to do anything to get a child, including stealing one and all means for them  are right to disentangle themselves from the bondage of guilt that society has plunge them into. The means could thus range from adopting a child, as does 53% of childless women in Cameroon (according to the above mentioned Demographic and Health survey), or simulate a pregnancy at the end of which they either pay people to steal a new born baby in one of Cameroon’s poorly equipped and unsafe maternities or do this themselves(as has been the case of 2 of the cases reported by the media recently).

STIGMA IS THE REAL CULPRIT

While Vanessa continue to weep and hope to one day hold her baby in her arms again, everyone in Cameroon seems to be looking for the culprit. While this is the right thing to do, I believe the attention is elsewhere and that if nothing is done more children like Vanessa’s will be stolen and the culprits never brought to book.

The real culprits of this acts of child thievery are not  in my opinion their perpetrators but stigma attached to not being able to conceive and bear children, discrimination,  poverty, illiteracy, the government, and all who watch this happen  without doing anything for this evil practice to be eradicated.

EDUCATION IS KEY TO ERADICATE STIGMA

Should we fold our arms and watch? I strongly believe NO! Indifference to the suffering of others is not to be tolerated in this age. Gone are those days. Today is Vanessa’s turn, who knows whose turn it is next? There is hope and there is a possible way out of child theft. That solution is to be found in the eradication of practices and change of policies that stigmatizes and discriminates against women who can’t conceive and bear children as well as retard development.

In its 2011 Rural Poverty Report, the IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) revealed that despite growing urbanization, 70 % of the world’s poorest people still live in rural areas with a majority of them women. Given the high level of illiteracy in these communities and the predominance of traditional and religious beliefs that  are hostile to childless women, I am convinced that there exist no better way in my opinion to eradicate despicable practices such as those described above and change mentalities than through education. 

Educating and sensitizing rural community dwellers on the ‘true’ causes of in fecundity is not only providing them the tools, strategies, and means to become active citizens through shunning the above mentioned practices, but above all contribute in raising their awareness on how some common causes of infertility could be prevented and that infertility  is no death sentence.

Through education and sensitization, inhabitants of communities where childbearing is considered as the main function of a woman, will come to understand that women are meant to do much more than bear children and this will go a long way to increasing their esteem for the great works and intellectual contributions of women to the progress of humanity.

This article was first published on amplifyyouvoice.org and can be read at: http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/u/Gastonkwa/2012/4/12/The-Stigma-of-Childlessness