Stop Malaria Project Interview: Ruth Enyimu

As part of BAMM (Blog About Malaria Month) I will be featuring brief interviews with my coworkers at Stop Malaria Project (SMP) and Malaria Consortium (MC) in the Soroti office.

Note: SMP is implemented by MC, which provides technical assistance to the project.

Ruth Enyimu is a behavior change communication assistant at SMP.

  

A: Where are you from?

R: I’m from Kaberamaido.

A: What did you study?

R: My first paper was a diploma in secondary education. My bachelor’s degree is in adult and community education from Kyambogo University in Kampala.  I am now going for my master’s degree at Mukono Christian University in public health.  

A: Where have you worked before SMP/MC?

R: I first worked with World Vision in the children’s department where we looked at the beneficiary child, its family, health and education.   I worked there for about four months as a volunteer.  My second job was with Save the Children. I was supposed to work in Sudan in a rebel camp.  After the training, I remained working online.  But when the time came to go to Sudan, the rebels went to Central Republic of Africa.  I held my appointment for about 5 months, and then went to AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation).  There, I was a project assistant for Malaria, HIV/AIDS and Water and Sanitation.

A: Why did you want to work for SMP/MC?

R: The project I was working for in AMREF came to an end.  One thing that excited me about SMP was that I already had experience.  It’s all about behavior change, not just treatment. That’s why I applied for that position.  I felt like if the community takes on the responsibility of prevention, there’ll be no cases in the facility.  I wanted to continue the work I had started with AMREF to work with VHTs (Village Health Teams). This was an opportunity to create sustainability for both projects.      

A: What drew you to work in public health?

R:  Most of the health issues are preventable diseases.  But they are ignored; people don’t have knowledge.  I believe public health will give me a lot of insight into community health.  I believe that will really help me change the lives of the community; but with their help, I can’t do it alone.  Generally, I don’t like to be office-based.  I really want to be deep down with the local person who has a problem.  Public health will directly take me there.  

A: What do you like most about your job?

R:  It really makes interact with the local person.  I get to interact with different people. Without SMP I wouldn’t have met you.  I’ve got to meet and train many Peace Corps Volunteers.

A: What do you think is the biggest challenge in malaria eradication?

R: It’s the attitude of people and the allocation of resources.  There are more resources for treatment instead of believing that prevention can succeed. There is also a knowledge gap of the local person.   

A: What do you think could be improved in the malaria eradication campaign?

R: The sensitization that we are doing is broad; we think the same sensitization will work in every region. It should be zeroed in what the community needs.  For example, if I was in charge of nets, very few would be allocated to regions where the burden isn’t high.  Areas with a high burden should be focused on.  Small community and village groups like SACCOs (Savings and Credit Co-operatives) should be taught the benefits of health and changes will occur.  Most of our sensitization is radio based and not every person will interpret what they hear on the radio.  Our IEC (Information Education Communication) materials for each region (holds up a poster) should show have real photograph of an actual family in the community that everyone knows.  These are just cartoons.  But with a real photograph, people would think “even I could do this.”  The health education in the facilities should focus on individuals or households, and should be followed up.  No one bothers to make follow- ups to see what the problem is from the grassroots. Instead, they wait until they go to the facility.  Like other outreaches are done, with immunization and TB programs, why not do outreaches for malaria treatment and testing?  

A: After SMP ends, what would you like to do?

R: I would really still wish to work with another organization that is handling malaria issues.  It’s a big burden for the country.  

A: Can you share a memorable experience from working at SMP?

R:  We had a radio talk show which I initiated brining a local person, a couple who went for IPTP (Intermittent Preventive Treatment in Pregnancy) for four doses, and got treatment within 24 hours.  I realized that was very educational, but very brief.  When you bring in a local person, you get many callers, and educate others on the real experience.  Another morning, I decided to listen to the radio.  One of the LC3 (local councilor) from Kaberamaido discussed how people were using (bed) nets for fishing.  So, I got the driver and decided to go up there.  I saw nets in the swamp used for fishing.  I fear water, so I couldn’t remove them.  And I knew that if I removed them, it wouldn’t help.  So I got the community together and asked them to be sincere and march to the water to remove it.  I said, “Let’s go and remove them and we’ll talk.”  The only one that remained was because the owner isn’t there, but he refuses.  I said, “this one doesn’t have an owner, he doesn’t want to use it, and doesn’t think it’s important”.  We removed it, and had a meeting and gave them proper education on net use.  I asked them “how much does this fish cost?”  A kilo of the tiny fish was 2000.  “How much do you spend on treating malaria in your household?” They said at least 20,000.  I told them “let’s put this in a weighing scale”.  I used a stone to represent the cost of treatment and the other side was sleeping under a net.  We agreed that we should all we be watchmen, and signed an agreement that if someone uses a net for fishing, they would be arrested.  And today, there is no fishing with (bed) nets.   They realized that if you misuse something you are given for free, then you lose it. 

Stop Malaria Project Uganda is one of many organizations that host a Peace Corps Volunteer in partnership with the Stomping Out Malaria Initiative in Africa. The initiative mobilizes and connects over 3,000 Peace Corps Volunteers in 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to work together to eradicate malaria from the continent. To learn more, please visit: http://stompoutmalaria.org/.