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 In Sudan, a country which to date has been spared the worst of Africa’s AIDS epidemic, another killer is on the rampage: malaria. So when World Vision workers in that nation learned recently that the relief agency had been awarded $6.7 million to fight the disease, they were jubiliant. “We will be helping the people of southern Sudan fight their biggest killer,” said Steffen Horstmeier, the World Vision program officer who helped write the grant proposal.
The grant will enable World Vision to distribute insecticide-treated bed nets and conduct malaria-awareness programs in various southern communities, including Gogrial, Tonj and Tambura.
Administered by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), the grant will also allow the team to devote more resources to Sudan’s TB problem. Team members will work with Comitato Collaborazione Medica, an Italian non-governmental organization, to provide TB relief in southern Sudan.
“Although we didn’t get funding specifically to tackle AIDS, we will still try to raise awareness on HIV, since southern Sudan remains one of the few places in the world where the people have not yet heard of this disease,” Horstmeier said.
WV Sudan health coordinator Molly Mwangi said she was ecstatic when she learned about the grant. “Malaria is a very serious disease in southern Sudan, and is particularly dangerous for children and pregnant women,” she said. “I’m sure this will enable us to save many lives.”
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