I Spoke Too Soon.. Malaria Part 2

I blogged two weeks ago about my desire for a problem-free last month of placement. I discussed some of the health problems I have experienced including having malaria 6 weeks ago and falling in a gutter. Personally, I don’t recommend doing either however both seem to be a right of passage of being in Ghana. 

As I wrote the post, malaria was brewing again in my liver and the day after I posted, I started feeling horrible at work and left work early to go home and rest. Just like last time, I had recently returned from a week field trip (this time in Western Region), and I noticed that I was sleeping more than usual and chalked it up to being exhausted. Unlike last time, I listened to my body and didn’t wait three weeks before seeking treatment. I decided against going back to the doctor and chose to buy the medication and rest. I didn’t have the time or feel the desire to go see a doctor again and spend money when I could treat it myself. 

Yet again, I appeared to be the healthiest person with malaria as I wasn’t throwing up or having difficulty moving around. I was suffering from muscle pain, muscle weakness, general discomfort, a headache and stomach pains. It’s hard to describe how malaria ‘feels’ but having gone through it once, I recognized the discomfort and crabby attitude. I knew as soon as I sat down at my desk that Friday that something wasn’t right with my body.

Because I have wonderful friends, a friend went to the pharmacy for me and picked up the malaria treatment and brought it to my room when I got back from work. She spoke with the pharmacist about my symptoms and that I had malaria within the last 6 weeks. Last time the doctor prescribed Coartem but it didn’t work very well for me. When I told my co-workers that I had been prescribed Coartem they all told me that it wasn’t an effective medication and that the parasite has developed a resistance to it and to try a different medication. The Coartem made my symptoms worse and it took me well over a week to bounce back and feel mostly back to normal after completing the three days of medication. All things considered, I’m not sure why I was prescribed Coartem however it seems like everyone is given Coartem the first time they have malaria.

This time I took Lonart which was half the price of Coartem and worked amazingly well. I wasn’t prepared for the nausea which was pretty bad during the first two days of treatment however eating soda crackers and drinking lots of water seemed to help. By the last day of Lonart I was feeling much better and I was able to move around and eat normally. I decided to take the Monday off work and work from home to allow my body to heal a bit more as I was still feeling mentally fuzzy and simple tasks were taking me longer than usual to complete. Tuesday morning I was back at work and feeling much better.

The weirdest part of malaria for me is the emotional chaos that seems to follow taking the treatment. Both times I’ve experienced emotional breakdowns and I struggle to control my emotions and mood swings for about a week after I finish the treatment. Someone told me that this isn’t uncommon in the recovery process however I couldn’t find any resources online about what to expect after completing malaria treatment.

I should point out that I have been taking my anti-malarial medication as directed by my doctor since I arrived in Ghana. I decided that after two rounds of malaria, that it wasn’t worth continuing the anti-malaria medication for the last few weeks. It is true that the anti-malaria medication doesn’t guarantee that you won’t contract malaria but it was a sound investment.

I found this video on youtube about malaria. It provides a general overview of malaria and the lifecycle of the parasite. 

FUN FACT: Did you know that malaria was common in North America? Malaria has since been eradicated.

It is true that malaria isn’t something to mess about with and seeking prompt treatment is key to a successful recovery. Most Ghanaians (and indeed, most Africans), have developed a resistance to the parasite and many adults don’t take the malaria medication and instead treat it the same way we in North America treat the common cold (lots of rest and fluids). It seems to affect small children and the elderly more than the average healthy adult because they have weaker immune systems. If you present with any of the usual symptoms (fever, headache, muscle pain), doctors assume that it is malaria and will treat for malaria before exploring other possible causes for the symptoms. Prevention is important and sleeping under a mosquito net is the first line of prevention. Avoiding mosquito bites altogether is virtually impossible if you are someone who tends to get bitten at home. 

Staying healthy is not so easy.

Why Empower Only Women

During my Christmas holidays I have been able to have some great conversations with Ghanaians about the future of their country and the issues that they feel need to be addressed in order for their country to continue developing. On my travels I met a  Canadian volunteer working with a women’s group whose efforts are focused on providing support for teen girls who are victims of sexual assault and teen pregnancy, something I am not familiar with in Ghana. I was assured that teenage pregnancy occurs more frequently than I am aware. Despite abortion being legal in Ghana, illegal abortions remain very common in rural areas which has disastrous effects on the physical and mental health of the affected women. Ghana is fortunately not a hotbed of HIV however the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Ghana is accepted to be higher than reported figures. 

Generally, young people in Ghana receive little to no sexual health education (from what I have been told), opening the door for NGO groups to intervene and offer education programs to try to stem the prevalence of disease and pregnancy. I spent a few days at Kokrobite beach near Accra, a place is very popular with volunteers and the locals. My boyfriend and I befriended one of the young men selling artwork on the beach. After telling him what I am doing in Ghana, he said the community living in Kokrobite was in need of workshops to teach women about contraceptives and to empower women to take charge of their bodies. He said that women were keen to learn about how to protect themselves and that previous workshops in the area were well received. I found it refreshing how adamant he was about women being empowered and the vital role that plays in reducing transmission of disease. He said that on public holidays when people flock to the beaches, organizations sometimes distribute condoms to people in an effort to reduce disease transmission and reduce unwanted pregnancies. For the sake of interest, my travel friend and I have kept an eye out to see how easy it is to find condoms for sale. Condoms are substantially more expensive than in Canada and the U.S., and more difficult to find than I was expecting it to be. We have only been able to find them in formal shops and at the Mall. It would be great if they were more accessible to people and more affordable to people who might not have much money to spend on condoms or other methods of contraception. Perhaps combined with increased education, accessibility and affordability would lead to more frequent condom use.

I do think that education efforts shouldn’t be exclusively focused on women. There seems to be such a responsibility placed on women to manage reproductive issues with little responsibility placed on men. Empowering men to protect themselves and their partners should be part of sexual health education because men are equally as responsible for protecting themselves as women. The culture here doesn’t promote gender equality and men are the heads of the household making it more important that men are educated and empowered to use protection. Education programs through schools is difficult because of the number of children who do not continue attending school after completing primary education. The other glaring barrier to improving sexual health in Ghana is the fear and shame-style campaigns for HIV claiming that there is no life after being diagnosed with HIV. It is unfortunate that this is the nature of the campaign but it doesn’t surprise me.

Living in Ghana makes me appreciate gender equality in Canada and the fact that women are empowered to make decisions for themselves. It is obvious that interactions between men and women here are a little different. I also think that NGOs that focus on improving sexual health education and women’s empowerment is critically important to help families overcome the cycle of poverty. In an ideal world, condoms would be easily accessible and inexpensive, reducing some of the barriers to encourage their use. Hopefully in the future this will happen.

Gasland & Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking

As countries around the world begin to explore alternative energy sources than petroleum, natural gas is of growing interest. I must admit I knew virtually nothing about how natural gas comes to be in tanks and canisters. I knew that companies are conducting exploration drilling in the Canadian Arctic to explore natural gas reserves. While mineral and energy extraction in the Arctic is an important issue unto itself, the main focus of my current interest is natural gas extraction in the United States and the implications of this for the rest of the world. This brings me to the documentary by Josh Fox called Gasland. This Oscar nominated documentary discusses the hazards of fracking in the United States and the politics behind this booming industry. The main focus of this film was water and the impact the fracking process and natural gas extraction has on the water supply. If you have read Bottlemania, or if you are interested in issues surrounding safe drinking water, you would probably enjoy this film.

Trailer to Gasland

What is fracking?
Fracking is a method used in deep well natural gas extraction. A combination of over 596 chemicals (80-300 tonnes each time), sand, and 1-8 millions of gallons of water is pumped into a well to break up the shale and ease the extraction of the natural gas. The water used becomes contaminated and of the water that is pumped out of the well, all of it is contaminated and must be cleaned and disposed of. During the lifetime of a natural gas well, it can be fracked multiple times (up to or beyond 10 times). These gas wells are drilled to 8000ft and most water aquifers are around 1000ft below the ground. The big concern is when the well casings leak or when water supplies are contaminated. This brief explanation is very over-simplified and there are great resources available on YouTube if you want to learn more about it.

What frightened me about this whole process beyond the safety issues of the wells and the potential for explosions was how the companies doing the drilling are not required by law to declare what chemicals they use for this process. Natural gas drilling companies are exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act (1974), which is in place to ensure that drinking water is kept clean from contamination. This exemption is commonly referred to as the Halliburton Loophole which was part of the Energy Bill passed in 2005 by the Bush administration. The Safe Drinking Water Act is in place to ensure that water resources are protected and not destroyed by industry or natural processes. While in some cases, citizens have been able to sue the gas companies and have them provide alternate water supplies (the gas companies will build a large tank and fill it up with water trucked in from elsewhere), however countless other families are left to fend for themselves.

Global Implications
How does this problem in the United States relate to international development? While current attention is focused on the fallout from fracking in the United States, other countries (including Europe and Northern Africa) are exploring fracking as a means to access natural gas reserves. If the United States is the model on which other natural gas drilling enterprises are mimicking, there is the potential for some serious problems. Clearly, there are health and safety issues surrounding natural gas extraction that have yet to be addressed and those with a vested interest in the operation of these drill sites are unwilling to take a critical look at the operation of these facilities. Hopefully before this technology is used in other parts of the world there will at least be independent study of some of these issues. Am I opposed to natural gas extraction? No. If natural gas companies were held to environmental standards and were able to prevent much of the water contamination that is currently happening, I don't see a problem in making use of this natural resource. However, while citizens of the United States can continue to set their water on fire, natural gas drilling is cause for concern.

Another great YouTube clip about Gasland

For more information about Josh Fox or Gasland please visit
website: http://www.gaslandthemovie.com
Facebook information: http://www.facebook.com/gaslandmovie