mobile malaria project

Day 14: Rundu to Katima Mulilo

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Friday 05 April 2019 | Distance travelled: 459km (1512km total)

We spent a pleasant evening and morning at Kaisosi River Lodge just outside Rundu. Today was the last time we'd be with Ezra until Kenya, so I spent a bit of time learning how to fly the drone and set up the go-pros for the car. We're clearly here to do research, but a large part of the proposal was around the communication activities that we're hoping to develop throughout the journey.

Part of this is Ezra's film, which will be used by JLR for their social media channels. But we're also doing our own things. We've got several cameras kicking round, plus go pros and the drone, as well as our mobile phones. Isaac managed to wangle a few free lenses from Sandmark for the drone and his mobile, which has upped his photo game. But we're also generating other content. We've recorded our first few interviews for the 'Lab Roving' our podcast. The concept is to interview people in the Land Rover as we drive aroung. I'll have a go at editing these over the next few days.

We're also trying to write about our experiences. This journal is part of it, but it's difficult to find the time to document every experience, as is always the way.

We also went to a malaria clinic in a small village called Kangoro in Kavango East. Davis had arranged for us to meet up with a malaria worker called Astrid Agusto. She does active case detection, which involves following up with the family (and neighbours within 100m) of people who present at a malaria clinic with clinical malaria. We accompanied her to one family homestead and watched as she and her collegue Martin used RDTs (rapid diagnostic tests) to see if any of the case's family were also infected with the disease.

There's a small but far from insignificant resevoir of malaria in people that are asymptomatic. They do not realise they are infected, and have no symtoms, but have parasites within them that will be transmitted by mosquitoes, should they get bitten.

An interesting nugget of info that I picked up today was that malaria incidence really is depending upon mosquitoes, which themselves are found near water. Rundu is experiencing something of a upsurge in malaria this season, and it appears to be because of two things. Firstly, the Acetellic CS that has been promoted doesn't linger in corrugated iron houses that people are increasingly building. It simply washes away. Traditionally buiilt wattle and dawb houses don't suffer in the same way and so have lasting protection from insecticide spraying.

The second issue is that particular water courses are an absolute hotbed for mosquitoes which translates to an increase in malaria. Apparently there is a single stream in Rundu that is contributing to the surge. The index case we visited had been to a funeral down by the river (Kavango) recently, and over the few hours she was there, malaria may well have been transmitted to her via mosquito from any of the other people there, particularly those from Angola, where the prevalence is greater.

A separate but related nugget of info from Astrid was that young men drinking in bars are a big problem for malaria. After a few drinks, they lose their wits enough to not care about any biting mosquitoes, and the time of day they drink is prime biting time. 

We were all impressed by the work of Astrid and Martin. They're the people on the front line that are helping countries like Namibia hope to eliminate malaria.

It's also becoming increasingly clear that Davis and Munya and the rest of their team would jump at the chance to work with us more in the future. They're tapped into the National Vectorborne Disease Control Program and are chomping at the bit to use new technology to help the fight. I'd love to be able to help them in the future.

Our last night in Namibia. I'm sitting in the back of the Land Rover writing this, which is suprisingly comfortable and easy. We're also hoping to camp tonight - oiur first night under canvus under African skies. I can't wait.