#oshakati

A quick post to highlight an important event: World Malaria Day! We celebrate WMD every year, on April 25th. To say the least, it holds some weight to me with my work, and proud to say this year’s festivities were Namibia’s greatest. With the country's steady decline in malaria cases, marked with their shift from a control to elimination stage, Dr. Margaret Chan, the Director General of the World Health Organization, made a first-time visit to Namibia:

Much credit goes to Namibia’s Minister of Health, Dr. Richard Kamwi, for his persistent requests to Dr. Chan, never giving up the chance to proudly display his country’s progress in the fight against malaria.

Preparations:

The special events began on Monday when Dr. Chan arrived. Early in the morning she met with the Prime Minister and then followed with a speech to the Namibian Parliament. Not only was this a special parliamentary moment to mark Namibia’s heath improvements and the important link with the WHO, but Margaret Chan became the first women to ever speak to the parliament and state house officials. Her eloquent and strong speech concluded with a standing ovation.

The activities continued on Tuesday evening when WHO used this visit to launch their new malaria surveillance guidelines and their “T3” initiative. Here is Dr. Chan and the Honorable Minister Kamwi getting ready for the launch:

  With this event, they have become good friends, and she commended his dedication and efforts numerous times during the World Malaria Day activities.

 The ‘T3’ stands for "Test, treat, and track”. Ensuring every suspected case of malaria is first tested before receiving treatment, combined with vigilant surveillance is exactly the malaria mantra that we have been chanting during my first year working in Namibia, and we were quite pleased to see the WHO encouraging and pushing these messages with their new initiative. Part of Dr. Chan’s entourage included Dr. Robert Newman, the Director of WHO’s Global Malaria Program, who presented T3. During his speech I was excited when he highlighted the need for cross border work, and mentioned our Tans-Kunene Malaria Imitative, the malaria cross border project we launched last year with Angola and Namibia! It was fun hearing those words out of the WHO malaria leader’s mouth:

  A critical issue that Dr. Newman brought up was the need for increased domestic investment in malaria, along with donor support, to help Namibia cross the barrier into malaria elimination. It is something we have been stressing with private companies within the country, especially with the global financial crises threatening the gains made over the past 5 years. In fact this year’s global malaria day slogan was: “Sustain gains, save lives, invest in malaria”. With Dr. Newman echoing our concerns, we hope that it had some resonance with the stakeholders present.

Malaria is still a killer, in Southern African particularly, where a child still dies every minute. I try to remind our donors, especially form the US, that the figure equals a “9/11” worth of children every day. Astonishing. We are lucky that this is not the case in Namibia, but have to be reminded of what can happen if our efforts slip.  

After the document launch, the festivities continued with a pleasant reception and long dinner that of course included more speeches. Some came from the EU Ambassador, the US Ambassador, the Permanent Secretary, the Minister of Health, and of course Dr. Chan herself.

Minister Kamwi:

Margaret Chan: 

She did not have a formal speech prepared, but took notes during the presentations and addressed topics she felt was relevant. I was impressed with her presence, engagement with the room, intelligence, and warmth. Not to mention, I was quite pleased she read the malaria briefing given to her prior to the event and was on point with the state of malaria within Namibia and highlighted key issues.

To lighten the evening, the dinner also included performances by some of Namibia’s young artists. One in a friend of mine, Shishani, and I was so happy that she could make the event. The head of one of the international malaria organizations, ALMA, even bough a copy of her album and Dr. Chan quoted one of her lyrics! “Stay true to yourself”. Way to go, Shishani:

The night came alive when the artist ‘Tequila’ performed, bringing the Minister of Health to his feet, followed by Margaret Chan! Once they were up, everyone followed and it was hilarious seeing her rock out and smile to the music. We knew the rest of the events would be a breeze!

The following day was the main event, where World Malaria Day was commemorated in the north of the country in the second largest city, Oshakati. Our northern malaria office is located there and has the country's biggest district hospital, where the DG was welcomed:

Health staff gave her a warm reception, and the delegation met in the hospital assembly hall where Dr. Chan addressed the room:

She commended Namibia on the progress made in controlling malaria and gave credit to all the right staff, from the health workers, to the spray men and women. It was a special moment for the Namibians in the north and I was proud to be witness to that historic day.

The crowd filling up Oshakati Stadium, with Margaret in the foreground:

Ovambo cultural dance:

Here is Permanent Secretary Kahuure, WHO country rep, Dr. Robalo, Minister Kamwi, and Margaret Chan in a presentation of WHO donating bednets to Namibia:

Then Dr. Chan helped launch our own ministry malaria documents!

  The festivities concluded with Dr. Chan visiting a health facility where local nurses demonstrated proper use of our malaria rapid diagnostic tests and indoor spraying techniques. Here Dr. Chan looks over the RDT procedure, with the new diagnostic posters we just developed, proudly hanging in the background:

Now we will see if this visit will boost private sector and donor commitment to malaria elimination in Namibia. The next steps will be to continue outreach while we still have the momentum, but for now, I need a break! Off to visit some waterfalls in the north and camp under the stars as I recharge the batteries. A special shout out to my friend, Michelle Thulkanam, the WHO communications officer for Namibia, and the one responsible for making WMD 2012 a complete success. Thank you, Michelle! The preparations were hectic to say the least, but we worked with smiles, so thrilled for the chance to showcase Namibia in their fantastic malaria accomplishments. Happy World Malaria Day!

“I am proud to be here in Namibia. This is a perfect place to celebrate World Malaria Day and consolidate our optimism about the prospects of freeing this world from an old and tenacious killer.”