Page 76 - University of Pretoria RESEARCH REVIEW 2018

Tiaan de Jager, Director: UP ISMC
Changing community perceptions of malaria
Researchers at the UP Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control (UP ISMC) – Professor Tiaan de Jager, Dr Taneshka Kruger and Dr Cheryl Tosh – have contributed to a book, Quality of Life in African Societies (Springer, 2018), where they present their analysis of how malaria competes with the pressures of poverty, lack of education and food security.
To overcome some of these barriers, the UP ISMC has focussed on education and technology to change the perceptions of local communities towards malaria, to accept malaria as a serious threat to health and livelihoods, and to be informed about prevention and treatment. Professor Riana Bornman from the UP ISMC, and a group of co-workers described the educational outcomes of a community education programme in the Vhembe District, Limpopo, South Africa (International Quarterly of Community Health Education, 2018). In a five-year programme, 1 330 community members participated in an interactive malaria education initiative led by home-based care workers that significantly improved participants’ knowledge of how malaria is transmitted and how the disease can be prevented.
The UP ISMC is involved in a number of initiatives that focus on education and health promotion of especially young children. These include the development of a song about malaria and the Sibo Fights Malaria book that was published in 2017, and projects by students investigating the possibility of including malaria education in the South African school curriculum. The UP ISMC approached the Department of Drama at UP to develop an informative play on malaria aimed at young children. Social media and digital apps are two contemporary tools that the Institute is using to communicate malaria information to the public. The ‘Malaria Buddy’ app helps travellers in malaria endemic areas understand malaria, as well as how to prevent, recognise symptoms and seek treatment.
In 2018, in recognition of its education innovation and outreach, the UP ISMC received the National Science and Technology Foundation award for Communication.
Postgraduate students at the UP ISMC, with some of the researchers.
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