Making change happen
At the break of dawn in Bukinda, a village in mid-western Uganda, 29-year-old Pharaoh starts working his land. But behind his work as a farmer, he hides another role: that of a change-maker.
When he finishes farming, Pharaoh’s work as a voluntary village health worker begins. He has been trained by Malaria Consortium, as part of USAID’s Malaria Action Program for Districts, to diagnose and treat children for malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea, or refer them to the nearest hospital when the illness is severe. Health facility staff ensure regular supervision. This approach is called integrated community case management, or iCCM, and is supported by Uganda’s National Malaria Control Programme. Community members flock to Pharaoh’s house to consult him when their children fall sick, and in the afternoon, he conducts house-to-house visits.
With almost a decade of experience, Pharaoh is making change happen. He symbolises good health, and with that, hope for his community members.
“I love my job, because my children don’t get sick anymore and my family receives the medicine they need. In the same way, I help other families who don’t need to travel for miles anymore to the nearest health facility.”
Uganda is making progress on combatting malaria. Its malaria prevalence decreased from 42 percent in 2009 to 19 percent in 2014. The National Malaria Control Programme wants to reach seven percent by 2020 in order to eliminate malaria completely by 2030.
In order to make this happen, the country has to ensure that health services are provided close to the communities and that referrals happen when needed.
One of the activities Pharaoh has been trained to do is organising village health clubs. These are meetings within the community where key health issues are discussed, solutions are identified and action plans are drawn up.
“I get my motivation from the feedback I receive at the village health club when I talk about health issues with my fellow community members,” Pharaoh said. “Everyone is really happy with the treatment I give. They say you haven’t been treated well if you haven’t been treated by Pharaoh.”
His commitment to improve his community’s health started when his daughter caught malaria and nearly died when she was only two years old. To get her the right treatment, Pharaoh had to travel for three hours and spend a lot of money on transport and medicines. To prevent this from ever happening again, he immediately bought a mosquito net. His daughter never caught malaria again. He now wants to share his knowledge with his community.
“It is a big success. Up to date all my children sleep under the net and I advise my fellow community members to do the same, so that they chase malaria out of their homes. They have to focus on the lives of their children, because they are the generation of tomorrow.”
It is thanks to key influencers like Pharaoh that change happens from within communities.
