Your head is pounding, burning with raging fever, your aching bones feeling like they weigh a ton. Covered in profuse sweating, your exhausted body shivers with teeth-chattering chills. For anyone who’s suffered through severe bouts of malaria, this is the nauseating roller coaster the disease typically wreaks on its victims.
But now an award-winning innovation by two students in Burkina Faso could help reduce the devastating impact of the life-threatening disease, which is caused by parasites that are spread to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes.
Moctar Dembele, who is from Burkina Faso, and Gerard Niyondiko, from Burundi, have used locally sourced herbs and natural ingredients to create a soap they say repels mosquitoes, in order to prevent malaria.
I – Word Understanding
Bouts of malaria – period of time someone suffers malaria
Wreak – to cause harm or damage
Life-threatening – causing death
II – Have your say
1. WHO – People living in the poorest countries are the most vulnerable to malaria, especially young children. It is preventable and curable.
2. Aside from mosquitoes, other insects (pests) also carry bacteria and cause harm to our health. How do you keep your home insect free?
