Return to listing
Critical malaria medicines and anti-mosquito treatments donated by AmeriCares are helping to stop the spread of this deadly disease in Myanmar. Heavy flooding caused by Cyclone Nargis created the perfect environment for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. What’s more, the cyclone destroyed thousands of homes, leaving families little protection from infectious swarms.
In response, AmeriCares partnered with The MENTOR Initiative to protect up to 800,000 of the most vulnerable people in Myanmar by:
The MENTOR Initiative is the leading international agency devoted to reducing malaria deaths and suffering in humanitarian crises. The approach in Myanmar is modeled after MENTOR’s successful anti-malaria program in post-tsunami Indonesia. It includes medicines to treat newer, stronger strains of the disease as well as mosquito control programs such as insecticides and protective netting.
Despite being highly preventable, malaria kills up to 3 million people each year, mostly children. Severe symptoms include labored breathing, high fever, painful joints, violent nausea and coma, as well as massive convulsions that can lead to death.
The vast majority of malaria cases occur in children under the age of 5 and can cause severe developmental delay and permanent brain damage. Pregnant women are especially vulnerable and are at increased risk for miscarriage and low-birth weight delivery.
AmeriCares is working with our locally based partners who have mobilized 30 medical teams. Each team, carrying medicines donated by AmeriCares, treats as many as one hundred patients a day. These medical resources are helping them restore health and save lives throughout the areas most affected by the catastrophic cyclone.
Help save lives in Myanmar and around the world. »