Use as Directed
Submitted by: Oliver Sabot
Director of CHAI’s Malaria Initiative
During my travels in Africa, I am constantly stuck by how simple things, things that you and I take for granted every day, can mean the difference between a child living and dying. Take this case for example:
In rural Tanzania, an anxious mother walks into a dusty, one-room drug shop. Her child is lying at home burning with fever, shaking as malaria parasites attack his body. The mother knows she needs to treat her child quickly – many other women in the village have lost children to malaria soon after the symptoms first appeared – but as she scans the shelves lined with packages and bottles, she realizes she doesn’t know what medicine she should buy. Eventually, she buys a plain, yellow box and rushes home. Sitting next to her sick child, she opens the box and pulls out more than 20 pills and a folded piece of paper with tiny words in a language she doesn’t understand. She doesn’t know how many pills she should give her child and how often. She doesn’t know how she can get the child, who is barely conscious, to swallow the pills. And she doesn’t know that she must continue treating the child for three full days, even after he seems to be better. She has brought life-saving drugs within inches of her child, but his life is still in danger.
This scene is currently being replayed throughout Tanzania and Africa, with tragic results. The world is mobilizing to make the most effective malaria treatment, called ACTs, available to millions more people in need. The Clinton Foundation is contributing to that effort by seeking to negotiate lower prices for these drugs and create models for distributing low-priced drugs to even the most remote areas. But increasing the availability of drugs is only half the battle.
Working with Populations Services International and the Government of Tanzania, the Clinton Foundation has developed a simple solution that will ensure that patients have the information they need to use malaria drugs properly. All the ACTs that are being distributed through the pilot program announced by President Clinton during his recent trip to Tanzania are placed into new packaging that provides essential information in the local language and pictures. With this packaging, patients are able to clearly understand how many pills they should take and when. And it’s attractive, encouraging patients to pick these drugs instead of the many ineffective drugs that often line shelves.
In the scope of the global battle against malaria, putting drugs into improved packaging may seem like a drop in the bucket. But simple solutions such as these can mean the difference between life and death for thousands of people. During those terrible moments, all the mother in rural Tanzania wants is to cure her dying child. Thanks to the Clinton Foundation, the next time she walks into a shop, she will have that power.
August 4th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Dear Sir:
I am a registered pharmacist in Colorado, USA that is willing to offer voluntary services in Tanzania. I just returned from a Mission trip in Arusha and also visited Dr. Jacobson at the Selian Lutheran Hospital.
I see the need. Can you suggest how I can help in the medical field. Our past mission services was with Rockland Church and we visited the Ngaramtoni Parish and the Ebenezer Seconday School for Girls.
Sincerely,
Ed Skaff
August 7th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Hooray…the inability to understand directions, through language barriers or whatever, has been a long standing concern of mine. I see persons given treatment aids and then, see them again without the follow through they should have had. Teaching is such an important part of medical care. Time constraints of the practitioner often are unfair to the patient. I am so glad to see the instructions become more helpful. The other helpful tool is a watch or time keeping piece so the intervals for treatments can be monitored more closely. And of course, that involves more teaching! I am still gratified to see this hurdle being tackled. Keep up the good work!
August 7th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
As global disease prevention specialist, I have been screaming about improved package directions forever! It is really great to see that the Clinton Foundation has started to address this problem. I ran into similar situations with unclear instructions with ARV’s. HIV drugs misuse can lead to drug resistance which can cause many more problems in a patient and future transmissions of a drug resistant virus to others. I hope this re-packaging will become a widespread solution to manage the increased accessiblity to medicine in Africa and other countries around the globe. Keep doing what you do!!!
August 7th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
As an American 15-year resident of Vietnam, I have also seen for myself this type of problem and am thrilled that someone finally enacted a common-sense approach to a simple problem.
Pity that it took so long.
I contracted Malaria back in 1995 and can tell you its not a lot of fun. For a poor child it is even worse.
As a parent, I can understand what the mother in the example cited must have been going through. There is nothing worse than seeing your child suffer and being frustrated beyond belief.
Keep up the good work!
August 12th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Money, fortune, in a way, stand for nothing. It is just to be used by people to make sense. Indeed, money is important for help, but money alone can by no means insure our effect. Dear Clinton, your blog makes me realize that it is with great love and great care that we can do something really helpful for the people who are in need.
Take the whole into consideration, but do the great job bit by bit.
I strongly Hope that I can be a volunteer of Clinton Foundation and make my own contributions to make the world better! In fact, I have begun my preparations to apply, although it will take a long time. I am a Chinese student in Shanghai JiaoTong University, but I think love goes beyond all over the world.
August 18th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Thank you Mr. Clinton for all the great endeavours you have achieved and the awareness you are generating. I am very familiar with Malaria since where I grew up (Senegal) every summer brings an epidemic of the infection and mosquito traps and bed nets are found in every households (that could afford it)…unfortunately in the rural areas, populations cannot afford bed nets to protect themselves against mosquitoes or any medications once they contract malaria.
Poverty, lack of information, lack of education (so they may not even be able to read the translated labels…) are obstacles against the Malaria fight. Operations bringing medical supplies, prevention strategies and information panels (in their respective languages) teaching and explaining populations basic information on main infectious diseases affecting them are what these populations need.
Basic health care doesn’t exist in these areas, health care knowledge is non-existent also…so there’s a lot of work to be done.
But this is a great start, let’s just work together…I have founded a website to spread the word on Malaria and what it really means.
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:13 pm
It’s very possible that I haven’t read through everything thoroughly. However, I’m wondering what type of supervision of distributors has been put into place to monitor the sale of these packages. I can see where pharmacists and other distributors would be tempted to sell or re-sell the packages at an inflated price and to pocket the profit. The population would then be right back where they began.
Sharon
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Thank you so much for your work towards health and education. I lived in Arusha, Tanzania for a year and a half at the School of St. Jude. The scene you describe truly resonates with me. The children I taught, living in poverty, often did not have even a mosquito net.
It was an amazing experience, opening my eyes to the utmost importance of adequate and appropriate health information. With education and health measures such as these, Malaria and HIV, preventable diseases with just the littlest measures, can become a thing of the past! Thank you for helping to spread the word!
August 25th, 2007 at 3:40 am
dear president,
I’m student in university of yaounde Cameroon (central africa)
in my country malaria and aids are almost cure and sometime we observ isolate case.
thank you to help tanzania,because it is great love and great care that we can do something really helpfull for the people who are in need.
sincerely.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
As a Tanzanian living in the USA,I would like to thank the Clinton foundation for the effort you’re taking to combat Malaria and HIV/AIDS in Africa.
As suggested before about the language barriers,lack of basic education on health care and poverty to the community,these contribute to an appropriate management of Malaria,HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
Now it is time All African Scholars who live abroad and all Well-Wishers of Africa to see the need of putting their contribution towards fighting Malaria and HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Keep it up Clinton Foundation.