Young children are much more vulnerable to all forms of illness. In infants this is because their immune systems are not yet fully developed, while in children under five they have not yet developed effective resistance to disease. Women are also at particular risk from malaria during pregnancy as their immune system is supressed.
Malaria can have a devastating effect on children’s education. Repeated infections cause children to miss large periods of school and anaemia, a side-effect of frequent malaria attacks, interferes with children’s ability to concentrate and causes chronic fatigue. Malnutrition exacerbates the impact of repeated bouts of malaria by reducing the effectiveness of antimalarial drugs and increasing the susceptibility of children to the other main killer illnesses: diarrhoea and pneumonia.
At Malaria Consortium, we actively seek opportunities to integrate maternal and neonatal care services into our work, particularly through our roll out of community based health care and case management. Our maternal and child health activities revolve around supporting health ministries in the development of policy and implementation of maternal and child health strategy, providing training, strengthening capacity of health officials, and undertaking research to improve malaria control in pregnancy.