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Tanzanian Churches
Preach Against Malaria
Rev. Ngogo educates congregation members about malaria prevention following a recent Sunday worship service. |
“Wherever I go, I am talking about malaria,” says Rev. David Ngogo. “Many people have lost their lives because of ignorance about malaria. Through education, we could save a lot of people.”
Rev. Ngogo is pastor of a rural parish in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT). Lutheran World Relief is partnering with the ELCT to educate church members about malaria prevention, how to recognize the signs and symptoms of the disease and what to do if they or their children become ill.
With support from the United States Agency for International Development, (USAID), the program aims to extend the reach of the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), an effort on the part of the U.S. government to reduce the impact of malaria in 15 African countries. With resources provided by the Malaria Communities Program (MCP), the LWR-ELCT partnership has been working with 12 underserved rural dioceses to extend education and resources to prevent and cure malaria.
Rev. Ngogo, who serves three congregations in the Konde diocese in southern Tanzania, is passionate about this work. Every Sunday after the weekly worship service, he talks to his congregations about malaria. He wants to make sure they understand how dangerous it can be, and how easily they can prevent it by taking a few simple precautions.
“The mosquito is God’s creation,” he tells them, “but it is a danger to humans . . . The mosquito can transmit malaria from one person to another. God has empowered us to know how to avoid diseases like malaria – we can manipulate our environment for good. We can defeat bad things like disease because we are empowered.”
Every week, he reinforces a few key points. Among them: Malaria can kill. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes. You can prevent malaria by sleeping under an insecticide-treated bed net. If you think you or your child may have malaria, go to the hospital immediately. Young children are most at risk.
He learned these points, and how to effectively teach them to others, through a training session for pastors co-sponsored by LWR and the ELCT. And he’s just one of close to 300 pastors who received training during the first year of this three-year project. Across the country, others like him are sharing similar messages with their congregations, effectively reaching hundreds of thousands of people with these life-saving messages.
“I got the knowledge I needed to explain it to others,” Rev. Ngogo says. “Now more people understand, and when they see the symptoms they go to the hospital early. It has even made a difference in my own family — before I did the training, I would just go to the pharmacy, not see a doctor. Now I know.”
He tells people to look out for symptoms like shivering, headache, pain, loss of appetite, nausea, dizziness, sweating, chest pain, abdominal pain and diarrhea – the first symptoms of malaria.
And the messages are paying off.
“Since we started this work,” he says, “more than one person [in my parish] has gotten sick and recognized the symptoms early enough to seek treatment. And that is thanks to this training.”
WHO IS LWR? Lutheran World Relief, an international nonprofit organization, works to end poverty and injustice by empowering some of the world's most impoverished communities to help themselves. With partners in 35 countries, LWR seeks to promote sustainable development with justice and dignity by helping communities bring about change for healthy, safe and secure lives; engage in Fair Trade; promote peace and reconciliation; and respond to emergencies. LWR is headquartered in Baltimore, Md. and has worked in international development and relief since 1945.
Lutheran World Relief is a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), individuals and parish groups in international relief, development, advocacy and social responsibility.
