Spraying Malaria Away

By Maswabi Precious Matantilo on June 22, 2015 in Malaria, News

When the fight against malaria is discussed and its fighters about to be awarded with medals, it is easy to look to health workers such as nurses, doctors, biomedical scientists and policy makers as the deserving recipients. Similarly, when interventions such as Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) are discussed, it is easy to look at how effective the intervention has been in reducing the malaria burden without making mention of community based volunteers such as spray operators.

Jimmy Hachinyama, 27, has been working as a spray operator for more than three years in Kafue District. He was drawn to the position by his quest to know more about malaria and how the Zambia National Control Programme operates. “I was told by a friend that Kafue District Health Office was receiving applications for spray operator positions, I got interested and applied,” said Hachinyama. “After being shortlisted, I went for oral interviews and sat for an aptitude test which I managed to pass. I was also subjected to physical medical examinations aimed at checking my health status before being recruited” he further said.

WASH discussed in Huffington Post blog series

By Akros Media on June 1, 2015 in News, Water and Sanitation Health

The Huffington Post featured some news from the WASH movement last week in an article titled “Promoting WASH Through Traditional Leaders and Technology,” co-authored by Akros CEO Anna Winters and Akros Director of Public Health David Larsen. The piece explores the way the government of the Republic of Zambia, with technical assistance from Akros and other partners, has been working with Zambia’s traditional leaders or “chiefs” to have a drastic impact on sanitation practices at the local level.

Click here to read the article.

The story was part of a series supported by WASH Advocates on the relationship between WASH and the Millennium Development Goals. Click here to see all the articles in the series.