Artists talk malaria
Artists have different forms to express themselves, but the week has seen some Malawian artists drawing concerns about malaria.
The week following the World Malaria Day, which fell on Sunday April 25 2021, has seen Malawian artists drumming messages on malaria through social media platforms.
On Facebook, artists such as Ethel Kamwendo-Banda, Code Sangala, Thoko Katimba, Leslie Moyo and Robert Chiwamba, posted their concerns on the disease. One Facebook user had to comment: “What is it about malaria and artists this week?”
The theme for Malawi this year was Zero Malaria: Draw the Line Against Malaria, with particular focus that the disease must be history.
Sangala is renowned for the Music Against Malaria Festival, which had one edition before the Covid-19 pandemic closed the set.
On the eve of the World Malaria Day, he told a panel discussion aired on MBC-TV that his concern with the disease shot when he was ‘near death after being diagnosed with four plus malaria’.
As a Malawi Big Brother Africa (BBA) representative, Sangala vowed to use his art to fight the disease in Malawi and abroad.
And on Facebook, he wrote: “This week, we are thinking about malaria. Malaria is not a joke. The best prevention against malaria is to sleep under treated mosquito nets. Prevention is better than cure.”
Kamwendo-Banda and Moyo seemed to focus on prevention for pregnant women, as malaria is associated with stillbirth, neo-natal and maternal deaths.
Said Kamwendo-Banda: “Let us remember that pregnant women have to take Fansidar SP in the course of their pregnancy to protect themselves and the unborn babies. The dosage starts during the fourth month of their pregnancy.”
And the afro musician Moyo, whose Moyo Wane recently got into the Trace Gospel newcomers list, expounds that it is ‘only healthy mothers who beget healthy babies’.
The vernacular spoken wordsmith Chiwamba said in an interview a malaria bout while in college made him to rethink his approach to malaria.
“There are some men who tell their friends that sleeping under the net brings infertility! Let us not play, malaria has not gone on a sabbatical leave. It is still killing and to be safe, mosquito nets are a must,” he posted on Facebook.
Katimba’s message is terse: “A true man should protect his wife and the unborn child. Which is why they must ensure that the proper preventive measures against malaria must be followed.”
