Cerebral Malaria Awareness and Prevention in Children in Malawi

For my project I will work with Dr. Terrie Taylor (a malaria researcher with an international reputation), and a team with a psychologist, MRI researcher and child psychiatrist to establish vital malaria awareness initiatives and examine the neuropsychiatric outcomes of cerebral malaria. Dr. Taylor and her team have worked in Malawi for over 20 years and have established a superb infrastructure to allow for a significant public service project of this nature. Due to the absence of laboratory equipment in most rural health facilities in developing countries, like Malawi, it is difficult to diagnose the disease at an early stage. Early diagnosis and treatment would be extremely advantageous as it will reduce morbidity and mortality, as well as inhibit sources of new malarial infections. Through my public service project I intend to change this. My project will consider both the prevention and the remediation of the disease. On one end of the spectrum, my efforts will focus on the extension of people’s awareness of malaria as a public health problem, promotion of timely treatment and developing measures for early diagnosis. On the opposite side, I will aid in the development and validation of diagnostic screening instruments in the population through working with teams collecting data, observing children in the community, as well as clinical settings in order to prove that the measures work to effectively diagnose disability in that setting. My ultimate goal is to provide Malawi with a cheap and easy to use disability screening measure that will enable accurate assessment so that the correct treatments for remediation can be employed. Over 25% of children who have experienced cerebral malaria exhibit neuropsychiatric sequelae, including; seizure disorders, hyperactivity, and reading/language disabilities. Although the some treatments that exist are inexpensive there is currently no way to accurately identify who needs intervention. These diseases largely go unrecognized and constitute a growing public health problem. Therefore, it is incredibly important to develop a sustainable method of deploying proven screening measures to regional clinics, hospitals and health care settings to provide for the public good. I have already begun to work on my public service project, as I have started to learn Chichewa, the local language with the hope that I will be able to interact better with the Malawians. The first two months will be spent collecting data on malaria prevalence, learning the language, assessing individual’s knowledge of malaria and deciding upon the best way to disseminate information/measures. A principal objective of my project is the development and implementation of the most effective malaria prevention techniques and vital awareness initiatives based on my interactions, The next two months, I will use my extensive technical knowledge to develop media (literature, training videos and radio segments) to spread malaria awareness and understanding of diagnostic screening instrument procedures. I will conduct malaria prevention lessons and interact with the locals on a day-to-day basis with the hope of increasing understanding of malaria. Spreading knowledge is important, but training and enabling people who are in a position to screen children for disorders is incredibly important. My next three months will be spent developing, translating and validating the protocol and screening indicators for assessing neuropsychiatric disabilities in young children who are survivors of cerebral malaria. The creation of a questionnaire used to screen children and validation of the test to ensure that it accurately represents what is found in diagnostic interviews will be a great service to the community. The remainder of my time in Malawi will be spent actively developing methods to distribute the screening instruments and information in a variety of formats and training for the vast populace on malaria awareness. Therefore, my final target objective is the deployment of information to health care settings and the public at large. This public service project is sustainable since the distribution of media and screening procedures can be continued and updated through a collaborative effort between the empowered Malawians and Dr. Taylor’s team who will continue to work in this setting. I feel confident that this project will be able to change the malaria landscape in Malawi for the better and diminish it’s truly devastating effects.