Nothing But Nets

Today we had the great pleasure of visiting with the President of Côte d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo. His sincere concern for malaria was very moving as he emotionally stated, “Malaria is killing the people of my country, though the only thing everyone talks about is AIDS.” Since the global health community acknowledged close correlations between malaria and HIV, there have been great strides made toward joint prevention of these two deadly diseases. Though HIV and AIDS are still at dangerously high levels around the world, in many countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, malaria is actually killing more individuals than AIDS.

Yesterday we visited a hospital in Dabou one of the best HIV/AIDS treatment centers in the country. The success I saw was the inclusion of malaria control in the program. Every hospital bed was covered by a net. Once individuals are diagnosed with HIV or AIDS, they are immediately treated for malaria; people with AIDS have a very difficult time fighting off malaria and must be treated to prevent anemia and possible death. In addition, people coming into the hospital with malaria are given free tests for HIV/AIDS.

I found this to be a very positive step forward in the prevention and treatment of both HIV/AIDS and malaria. No matter your passion or issue, we may all work together to fight these devastating diseases.