Tabinda Hussain is a 12 years old 6th-grade student. Little did Tabinda know that the tranquillity of her village would soon be disrupted by floods that would leave an indelible mark on the lives of its residents.

"During the floods, a lot of water came. Our houses fell down. Our livestock died. All the people from our village left. Because of the floods, there was a lot of dirty water and due to that, mosquitoes came and then everyone got ill. When I got ill, I had a headache and my eyes used to hurt and they were watery. I also used to vomit".

With their Basic Health Unit submerged, accessing medical care seemed impossible. However, a glimmer of hope emerged in the form of Indus Hospital, which had set up medical camps to address the health crisis.

"Then we found out that Indus Hospital has arranged medical camps. So we went there. There was a doctor there. I was tested and found positive for malaria. They gave me medicines, and that helped me recover. People from Indus Hospital also gave us awareness about how to protect ourselves from Malaria".

In the wake of tragedy, Tabinda and her community learned to rebuild not just their homes but also their defences against the invisible threats that lurked in the aftermath of the floods.

© Indus Hospital and Health Network

Marsabait County in Northern Kenya, is one of the country’s largest counties. Observed changes in rainfall patterns have reportedly led to more mosquito breeding sites in new places. This region had suffered from extreme drought for 2 years. When the rainfall returned it resulted in malaria outbreaks.

Adam Abdi shares, "Sometimes I get malaria, I take paracetamol and it goes away. But this time I was throwing up, I had a fever and joint pains, it had been almost ten years since I'd had it as bad as this."

Find out more here

© Story: GAVI

Naomi is 12 years old from Nigeria and has recently recovered from malaria.

“Hi, I am Naomi, I am from Nigeria, and I am 12 years old. I would like to share my experience with malaria. Malaria is a disease that affects people all over the world, especially those in Africa. The increasing level of heat and heavy rainfall have created a good environment for Mosquitoes to multiply and cause more malaria. Two weeks ago, I had malaria, it was a very bad time for me. The symptoms I had were fever, body pain, restlessness, poor appetite, and weakness. I could not go to school and my mother also could not go to work because she could not take care of me. It would be nice to see a world with zero malaria, so children can have their futures secured.”

“In the past, we knew that during the winter there would be no rain,” says Celina. “But nowadays it has become… normal.”

Most of Celina’s neighborhood in Boane District, Mozambique, was under water. The area had already been impacted by flooding, but the situation intensified with the arrival of Cyclone Freddy, the longest lasting tropical cyclone in recorded history.

After sheltering at a school for 10 days, Celina and her children returned home, where they found all of their belongings covered in mud and ruined by water. The family’s crops had been destroyed.

People then started to get seriously ill, including Celina’s two young daughters.

“We didn’t have mosquito nets. We were just fleeing from water in our houses,” she said. “I didn’t want to believe the truth. But when I arrived at the hospital, that is when I saw that it was malaria.”

For Celina, hearing the news that both of her daughters had malaria was terrifying. Just six months before the cyclone hit, her 35-year-old husband Maxaieie came home late from work, sick with a fever.

“That is when I realized that I’m alone now. I’m the father and the mother of my kids” she says.

After both of Celina’s daughters were tested for malaria and rapidly put on treatment, they both made full recoveries.

Find more here

©The Global Fund/Tommy Trenchard/Rooftop

Suzy is Miskito, an Indigenous community from Central America.

Suzy she has seen thousands of patients, either testing or treating them for malaria, since she became a community health volunteer two decades ago.

“Every week there are 25 people, almost 30. I love my people. They come to my house, and I look after them at night, in the morning, at whatever time,” she says. “I look after everyone, regardless of where they come from.”

“I take blood samples do rapid diagnostic tests and I diagnose. I then give them tablets straight away,” she says.

In 2020 COVID-19 hit, and later that same year Tropical Storm Eta ripped through the country followed by Hurricane Iota only two weeks later. The deadly storms closed health units, including facilities providing malaria services. Surveillance and tracing of malaria cases had to be scaled back, and less people were visiting clinics for testing and treatment due to fear of contracting COVID-19.

In 2020, rather than recording a decrease in cases as Honduras had done nearly every year for the last two decades, the number of malaria cases recorded increased.

Find more here

©The Global Fund/Tomas Ayuso/Panos

“Every single minute a child dies from malaria. It is a terrible disease that impacts the future of young people like me, by disrupting our lives, education and opportunities.

Changing weather around the world is making malaria even harder to control.

As children we have a clear message; we need governments around the world to take action and invest now to end malaria within our lifetime.”